Capability negotiation in multilink

ABSTRACT

In a wireless local area network (LAN) system, a station (STA) receives, from an access point (AP), channel information related to a multilink, and the channel information may include link identifier information of a plurality of links included in the multilink. The STA transmits, to the AP, link selection information on the basis of the channel information, and the link selection information may include information related to whether the STA can use each of the plurality of links, and information related to whether the STA uses each of the plurality of links for data transmission.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to a capability negotiation method in a wireless local area network (LAN).

Related Art

A wireless local area network (WLAN) has been enhanced in various ways. For example, the IEEE 802.11ax standard has proposed an enhanced communication environment by using orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) and downlink multi-user multiple input multiple output (DL MU MIMO) schemes.

The present specification proposes a technical feature that can be utilized in a new communication standard. For example, the new communication standard may be an extreme high throughput (EHT) standard which is currently being discussed. The EHT standard may use an increased bandwidth, an enhanced PHY layer protocol data unit (PPDU) structure, an enhanced sequence, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) scheme, or the like, which is newly proposed. The EHT standard may be called the IEEE 802.11be standard.

SUMMARY

A method performed by a station (STA) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system according to various embodiments may include technical features pertaining to a method of negotiating multi-link-related capabilities. An STA may receive channel information related to multi-link from an access point (AP), wherein the channel information may include link identifier information of a plurality of links included in the multi-link. The STA may transmit link selection information to the AP based on the channel information, wherein the link selection information may include information related to whether the STA can use each of the plurality of links and information related to whether the STA uses each of the plurality of links data for data transmission.

Advantageous Effects

According to an example of the present disclosure, an STA and an AP supporting multi-link can exchange multi-link capability information and can negotiate a link to be used based on the multi-link capability information. Therefore, the AP and the STA can perform multi-link transmission/reception using an optimal link, and thus the effect of increasing communication efficiency can be obtained.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an example of a transmitting apparatus and/or a receiving apparatus of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a structure of a wireless local area network (WLAN).

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a general link setup process.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a PPDU used in IEEE standards.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an arrangement of resource units (RUs) used on a 20 MHz band.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an arrangement of resource units (RUs) used on a 40 MHz band.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an arrangement of resource units (RUs) used on an 80 MHz band.

FIG. 8 shows a structure of an HE-SIG-B field.

FIG. 9 shows an example in which a plurality of user STAs are allocated to the same RU through MU-MIMO.

FIG. 10 shows an operation according to UL-MU.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a trigger frame.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a common information field of the trigger frame.

FIG. 13 shows an example of subfields included in a per user information field.

FIG. 14 illustrates technical features of UORA.

FIG. 15 shows an example of channels used/supported/defined in a 2.4 GHz band.

FIG. 16 shows an example of channels used/supported/defined in a 5 GHz band.

FIG. 17 shows an example of channels used/supported/defined in a 6 GHz band.

FIG. 18 shows an example of a PPDU used in the present disclosure.

FIG. 19 shows a modified example of a transmitting apparatus and/or a receiving apparatus of the present disclosure.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of multi-link capabilities of an AP and an STA.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an embodiment of multi-link capability information.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an embodiment of multi-link BSS channel information.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a multi-link capability negotiation method.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a method for replacing Element C of FIG. 23.

FIG. 25 to FIG. 28 are diagrams showing an embodiment of a multi-link capability negotiation method.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an STA operation.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an AP operation.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

In the present specification, “A or B” may mean “only A”, “only B” or “both A and B”. In other words, in the present specification, “A or B” may be interpreted as “A and/or B”. For example, in the present specification, “A, B, or C” may mean “only A”, “only B”, “only C”, or “any combination of A, B, C”.

A slash (/) or comma used in the present specification may mean “and/or”. For example, “A/B” may mean “A and/or B”. Accordingly, “A/B” may mean “only A”, “only B”, or “both A and B”. For example, “A, B, C” may mean “A, B, or C”.

In the present specification, “at least one of A and B” may mean “only A”, “only B”, or “both A and B”. In addition, in the present specification, the expression “at least one of A or B” or “at least one of A and/or B” may be interpreted as “at least one of A and B”.

In addition, in the present specification, “at least one of A, B, and C” may mean “only A”, “only B”, “only C”, or “any combination of A, B, and C”. In addition, “at least one of A, B, or C” or “at least one of A, B, and/or C” may mean “at least one of A, B, and C”.

In addition, a parenthesis used in the present specification may mean “for example”. Specifically, when indicated as “control information (EHT-signal)”, it may mean that “EHT-signal” is proposed as an example of the “control information”. In other words, the “control information” of the present specification is not limited to “EHT-signal”, and “EHT-signal” may be proposed as an example of the “control information”. In addition, when indicated as “control information (i.e., EHT-signal)”, it may also mean that “EHT-signal” is proposed as an example of the “control information”.

Technical features described individually in one figure in the present specification may be individually implemented, or may be simultaneously implemented.

The following example of the present specification may be applied to various wireless communication systems. For example, the following example of the present specification may be applied to a wireless local area network (WLAN) system. For example, the present specification may be applied to the IEEE 802.11a/g/n/ac standard or the IEEE 802.11ax standard. In addition, the present specification may also be applied to the newly proposed EHT standard or IEEE 802.11be standard. In addition, the example of the present specification may also be applied to a new WLAN standard enhanced from the EHT standard or the IEEE 802.11be standard. In addition, the example of the present specification may be applied to a mobile communication system. For example, it may be applied to a mobile communication system based on long term evolution (LTE) depending on a 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) standard and based on evolution of the LTE. In addition, the example of the present specification may be applied to a communication system of a 5G NR standard based on the 3GPP standard.

Hereinafter, in order to describe a technical feature of the present specification, a technical feature applicable to the present specification will be described.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a transmitting apparatus and/or receiving apparatus of the present specification.

In the example of FIG. 1, various technical features described below may be performed. FIG. 1 relates to at least one station (STA). For example, STAs 110 and 120 of the present specification may also be called in various terms such as a mobile terminal, a wireless device, a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile subscriber unit, or simply a user. The STAs 110 and 120 of the present specification may also be called in various terms such as a network, a base station, a node-B, an access point (AP), a repeater, a router, a relay, or the like. The STAs 110 and 120 of the present specification may also be referred to as various names such as a receiving apparatus, a transmitting apparatus, a receiving STA, a transmitting STA, a receiving device, a transmitting device, or the like.

For example, the STAs 110 and 120 may serve as an AP or a non-AP. That is, the STAs 110 and 120 of the present specification may serve as the AP and/or the non-AP.

STAs 110 and 120 of the present specification may support various communication standards together in addition to the IEEE 802.11 standard. For example, a communication standard (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR standard) or the like based on the 3GPP standard may be supported. In addition, the STA of the present specification may be implemented as various devices such as a mobile phone, a vehicle, a personal computer, or the like. In addition, the STA of the present specification may support communication for various communication services such as voice calls, video calls, data communication, and self-driving (autonomous-driving), or the like.

The STAs 110 and 120 of the present specification may include a medium access control (MAC) conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard and a physical layer interface for a radio medium.

The STAs 110 and 120 will be described below with reference to a sub-figure (a) of FIG. 1.

The first STA 110 may include a processor 111, a memory 112, and a transceiver 113. The illustrated process, memory, and transceiver may be implemented individually as separate chips, or at least two blocks/functions may be implemented through a single chip.

The transceiver 113 of the first STA performs a signal transmission/reception operation. Specifically, an IEEE 802.11 packet (e.g., IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be, etc.) may be transmitted/received.

For example, the first STA 110 may perform an operation intended by an AP. For example, the processor 111 of the AP may receive a signal through the transceiver 113, process a reception (RX) signal, generate a transmission (TX) signal, and provide control for signal transmission. The memory 112 of the AP may store a signal (e.g., RX signal) received through the transceiver 113, and may store a signal (e.g., TX signal) to be transmitted through the transceiver.

For example, the second STA 120 may perform an operation intended by a non-AP STA. For example, a transceiver 123 of a non-AP performs a signal transmission/reception operation. Specifically, an IEEE 802.11 packet (e.g., IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be packet, etc.) may be transmitted/received.

For example, a processor 121 of the non-AP STA may receive a signal through the transceiver 123, process an RX signal, generate a TX signal, and provide control for signal transmission. A memory 122 of the non-AP STA may store a signal (e.g., RX signal) received through the transceiver 123, and may store a signal (e.g., TX signal) to be transmitted through the transceiver.

For example, an operation of a device indicated as an AP in the specification described below may be performed in the first STA 110 or the second STA 120. For example, if the first STA 110 is the AP, the operation of the device indicated as the AP may be controlled by the processor 111 of the first STA 110, and a related signal may be transmitted or received through the transceiver 113 controlled by the processor 111 of the first STA 110. In addition, control information related to the operation of the AP or a TX/RX signal of the AP may be stored in the memory 112 of the first STA 110. In addition, if the second STA 120 is the AP, the operation of the device indicated as the AP may be controlled by the processor 121 of the second STA 120, and a related signal may be transmitted or received through the transceiver 123 controlled by the processor 121 of the second STA 120. In addition, control information related to the operation of the AP or a TX/RX signal of the AP may be stored in the memory 122 of the second STA 120.

For example, in the specification described below, an operation of a device indicated as a non-AP (or user-STA) may be performed in the first STA 110 or the second STA 120. For example, if the second STA 120 is the non-AP, the operation of the device indicated as the non-AP may be controlled by the processor 121 of the second STA 120, and a related signal may be transmitted or received through the transceiver 123 controlled by the processor 121 of the second STA 120. In addition, control information related to the operation of the non-AP or a TX/RX signal of the non-AP may be stored in the memory 122 of the second STA 120. For example, if the first STA 110 is the non-AP, the operation of the device indicated as the non-AP may be controlled by the processor 111 of the first STA 110, and a related signal may be transmitted or received through the transceiver 113 controlled by the processor 111 of the first STA 110. In addition, control information related to the operation of the non-AP or a TX/RX signal of the non-AP may be stored in the memory 112 of the first STA 110.

In the specification described below, a device called a (transmitting/receiving) STA, a first STA, a second STA, a STA1, a STA2, an AP, a first AP, a second AP, an AP1, an AP2, a (transmitting/receiving) terminal, a (transmitting/receiving) device, a (transmitting/receiving) apparatus, a network, or the like may imply the STAs 110 and 120 of FIG. 1. For example, a device indicated as, without a specific reference numeral, the (transmitting/receiving) STA, the first STA, the second STA, the STA1, the STA2, the AP, the first AP, the second AP, the AP′, the AP2, the (transmitting/receiving) terminal, the (transmitting/receiving) device, the (transmitting/receiving) apparatus, the network, or the like may imply the STAs 110 and 120 of FIG. 1. For example, in the following example, an operation in which various STAs transmit/receive a signal (e.g., a PPDU) may be performed in the transceivers 113 and 123 of FIG. 1. In addition, in the following example, an operation in which various STAs generate a TX/RX signal or perform data processing and computation in advance for the TX/RX signal may be performed in the processors 111 and 121 of FIG. 1. For example, an example of an operation for generating the TX/RX signal or performing the data processing and computation in advance may include: 1) an operation of determining/obtaining/configuring/computing/decoding/encoding bit information of a sub-field (SIG, STF, LTF, Data) included in a PPDU; 2) an operation of determining/configuring/obtaining a time resource or frequency resource (e.g., a subcarrier resource) or the like used for the sub-field (SIG, STF, LTF, Data) included the PPDU; 3) an operation of determining/configuring/obtaining a specific sequence (e.g., a pilot sequence, an STF/LTF sequence, an extra sequence applied to SIG) or the like used for the sub-field (SIG, STF, LTF, Data) field included in the PPDU; 4) a power control operation and/or power saving operation applied for the STA; and 5) an operation related to determining/obtaining/configuring/decoding/encoding or the like of an ACK signal. In addition, in the following example, a variety of information used by various STAs for determining/obtaining/configuring/computing/decoding/decoding a TX/RX signal (e.g., information related to a field/subfield/control field/parameter/power or the like) may be stored in the memories 112 and 122 of FIG. 1.

The aforementioned device/STA of the sub-figure (a) of FIG. 1 may be modified as shown in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1. Hereinafter, the STAs 110 and 120 of the present specification will be described based on the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1.

For example, the transceivers 113 and 123 illustrated in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1 may perform the same function as the aforementioned transceiver illustrated in the sub-figure (a) of FIG. 1. For example, processing chips 114 and 124 illustrated in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1 may include the processors 111 and 121 and the memories 112 and 122. The processors 111 and 121 and memories 112 and 122 illustrated in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1 may perform the same function as the aforementioned processors 111 and 121 and memories 112 and 122 illustrated in the sub-figure (a) of FIG. 1.

A mobile terminal, a wireless device, a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile subscriber unit, a user, a user STA, a network, a base station, a Node-B, an access point (AP), a repeater, a router, a relay, a receiving unit, a transmitting unit, a receiving STA, a transmitting STA, a receiving device, a transmitting device, a receiving apparatus, and/or a transmitting apparatus, which are described below, may imply the STAs 110 and 120 illustrated in the sub-figure (a)/(b) of FIG. 1, or may imply the processing chips 114 and 124 illustrated in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1. That is, a technical feature of the present specification may be performed in the STAs 110 and 120 illustrated in the sub-figure (a)/(b) of FIG. 1, or may be performed only in the processing chips 114 and 124 illustrated in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1. For example, a technical feature in which the transmitting STA transmits a control signal may be understood as a technical feature in which a control signal generated in the processors 111 and 121 illustrated in the sub-figure (a)/(b) of FIG. 1 is transmitted through the transceivers 113 and 123 illustrated in the sub-figure (a)/(b) of FIG. 1. Alternatively, the technical feature in which the transmitting STA transmits the control signal may be understood as a technical feature in which the control signal to be transferred to the transceivers 113 and 123 is generated in the processing chips 114 and 124 illustrated in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1.

For example, a technical feature in which the receiving STA receives the control signal may be understood as a technical feature in which the control signal is received by means of the transceivers 113 and 123 illustrated in the sub-figure (a) of FIG. 1. Alternatively, the technical feature in which the receiving STA receives the control signal may be understood as the technical feature in which the control signal received in the transceivers 113 and 123 illustrated in the sub-figure (a) of FIG. 1 is obtained by the processors 111 and 121 illustrated in the sub-figure (a) of FIG. 1. Alternatively, the technical feature in which the receiving STA receives the control signal may be understood as the technical feature in which the control signal received in the transceivers 113 and 123 illustrated in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1 is obtained by the processing chips 114 and 124 illustrated in the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1.

Referring to the sub-figure (b) of FIG. 1, software codes 115 and 125 may be included in the memories 112 and 122. The software codes 115 and 126 may include instructions for controlling an operation of the processors 111 and 121. The software codes 115 and 125 may be included as various programming languages.

The processors 111 and 121 or processing chips 114 and 124 of FIG. 1 may include an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), other chipsets, a logic circuit and/or a data processing device. The processor may be an application processor (AP). For example, the processors 111 and 121 or processing chips 114 and 124 of FIG. 1 may include at least one of a digital signal processor (DSP), a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), and a modulator and demodulator (modem). For example, the processors 111 and 121 or processing chips 114 and 124 of FIG. 1 may be SNAPDRAGON™ series of processors made by Qualcomm®, EXYNOS™ series of processors made by Samsung®, A series of processors made by Apple®, HELIO™ series of processors made by MediaTek®, ATOM™ series of processors made by Intel® or processors enhanced from these processors.

In the present specification, an uplink may imply a link for communication from a non-AP STA to an SP STA, and an uplink PPDU/packet/signal or the like may be transmitted through the uplink. In addition, in the present specification, a downlink may imply a link for communication from the AP STA to the non-AP STA, and a downlink PPDU/packet/signal or the like may be transmitted through the downlink.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual view illustrating the structure of a wireless local area network (WLAN).

An upper part of FIG. 2 illustrates the structure of an infrastructure basic service set (BSS) of institute of electrical and electronic engineers (i.e.EE) 802.11.

Referring the upper part of FIG. 2, the wireless LAN system may include one or more infrastructure BSSs 200 and 205 (hereinafter, referred to as BSS). The BSSs 200 and 205 as a set of an AP and a STA such as an access point (AP) 225 and a station (STA1) 200-1 which are successfully synchronized to communicate with each other are not concepts indicating a specific region. The BSS 205 may include one or more STAs 205-1 and 205-2 which may be joined to one AP 230.

The BSS may include at least one STA, APs providing a distribution service, and a distribution system (DS) 210 connecting multiple APs.

The distribution system 210 may implement an extended service set (ESS) 240 extended by connecting the multiple BSSs 200 and 205. The ESS 240 may be used as a term indicating one network configured by connecting one or more APs 225 or 230 through the distribution system 210. The AP included in one ESS 240 may have the same service set identification (SSID).

A portal 220 may serve as a bridge which connects the wireless LAN network (i.e.EE 802.11) and another network (e.g., 802.X).

In the BSS illustrated in the upper part of FIG. 2, a network between the APs 225 and 230 and a network between the APs 225 and 230 and the STAs 200-1, 205-1, and 205-2 may be implemented. However, the network is configured even between the STAs without the APs 225 and 230 to perform communication. A network in which the communication is performed by configuring the network even between the STAs without the APs 225 and 230 is defined as an Ad-Hoc network or an independent basic service set (IBSS).

A lower part of FIG. 2 illustrates a conceptual view illustrating the IBSS.

Referring to the lower part of FIG. 2, the IBSS is a BSS that operates in an Ad-Hoc mode. Since the IBSS does not include the access point (AP), a centralized management entity that performs a management function at the center does not exist. That is, in the IBSS, STAs 250-1, 250-2, 250-3, 255-4, and 255-5 are managed by a distributed manner. In the IBSS, all STAs 250-1, 250-2, 250-3, 255-4, and 255-5 may be constituted by movable STAs and are not permitted to access the DS to constitute a self-contained network.

FIG. 3 illustrates a general link setup process.

In S310, a STA may perform a network discovery operation. The network discovery operation may include a scanning operation of the STA. That is, to access a network, the STA needs to discover a participating network. The STA needs to identify a compatible network before participating in a wireless network, and a process of identifying a network present in a particular area is referred to as scanning. Scanning methods include active scanning and passive scanning.

FIG. 3 illustrates a network discovery operation including an active scanning process. In active scanning, a STA performing scanning transmits a probe request frame and waits for a response to the probe request frame in order to identify which AP is present around while moving to channels. A responder transmits a probe response frame as a response to the probe request frame to the STA having transmitted the probe request frame. Here, the responder may be a STA that transmits the last beacon frame in a BSS of a channel being scanned. In the BSS, since an AP transmits a beacon frame, the AP is the responder. In an IBSS, since STAs in the IBSS transmit a beacon frame in turns, the responder is not fixed. For example, when the STA transmits a probe request frame via channel 1 and receives a probe response frame via channel 1, the STA may store BSS-related information included in the received probe response frame, may move to the next channel (e.g., channel 2), and may perform scanning (e.g., transmits a probe request and receives a probe response via channel 2) by the same method.

Although not shown in FIG. 3, scanning may be performed by a passive scanning method. In passive scanning, a STA performing scanning may wait for a beacon frame while moving to channels. A beacon frame is one of management frames in IEEE 802.11 and is periodically transmitted to indicate the presence of a wireless network and to enable the STA performing scanning to find the wireless network and to participate in the wireless network. In a BSS, an AP serves to periodically transmit a beacon frame. In an IBSS, STAs in the IBSS transmit a beacon frame in turns. Upon receiving the beacon frame, the STA performing scanning stores information related to a BSS included in the beacon frame and records beacon frame information in each channel while moving to another channel. The STA having received the beacon frame may store BSS-related information included in the received beacon frame, may move to the next channel, and may perform scanning in the next channel by the same method.

After discovering the network, the STA may perform an authentication process in S320. The authentication process may be referred to as a first authentication process to be clearly distinguished from the following security setup operation in S340. The authentication process in S320 may include a process in which the STA transmits an authentication request frame to the AP and the AP transmits an authentication response frame to the STA in response. The authentication frames used for an authentication request/response are management frames.

The authentication frames may include information related to an authentication algorithm number, an authentication transaction sequence number, a status code, a challenge text, a robust security network (RSN), and a finite cyclic group.

The STA may transmit the authentication request frame to the AP. The AP may determine whether to allow the authentication of the STA based on the information included in the received authentication request frame. The AP may provide the authentication processing result to the STA via the authentication response frame.

When the STA is successfully authenticated, the STA may perform an association process in S330. The association process includes a process in which the STA transmits an association request frame to the AP and the AP transmits an association response frame to the STA in response. The association request frame may include, for example, information related to various capabilities, a beacon listen interval, a service set identifier (SSID), a supported rate, a supported channel, RSN, a mobility domain, a supported operating class, a traffic indication map (TIM) broadcast request, and an interworking service capability. The association response frame may include, for example, information related to various capabilities, a status code, an association ID (AID), a supported rate, an enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) parameter set, a received channel power indicator (RCPI), a received signal-to-noise indicator (RSNI), a mobility domain, a timeout interval (association comeback time), an overlapping BSS scanning parameter, a TIM broadcast response, and a QoS map.

In S340, the STA may perform a security setup process. The security setup process in S340 may include a process of setting up a private key through four-way handshaking, for example, through an extensible authentication protocol over LAN (EAPOL) frame.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a PPDU used in an IEEE standard.

As illustrated, various types of PHY protocol data units (PPDUs) are used in IEEE a/g/n/ac standards. Specifically, an LTF and a STF include a training signal, a SIG-A and a SIG-B include control information for a receiving STA, and a data field includes user data corresponding to a PSDU (MAC PDU/aggregated MAC PDU).

FIG. 4 also includes an example of an HE PPDU according to IEEE 802.11ax. The HE PPDU according to FIG. 4 is an illustrative PPDU for multiple users. An HE-SIG-B may be included only in a PPDU for multiple users, and an HE-SIG-B may be omitted in a PPDU for a single user.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the HE-PPDU for multiple users (MUs) may include a legacy-short training field (L-STF), a legacy-long training field (L-LTF), a legacy-signal (L-SIG), a high efficiency-signal A (HE-SIG A), a high efficiency-signal-B (HE-SIG B), a high efficiency-short training field (HE-STF), a high efficiency-long training field (HE-LTF), a data field (alternatively, an MAC payload), and a packet extension (PE) field. The respective fields may be transmitted for illustrated time periods (i.e., 4 or 8 μs).

Hereinafter, a resource unit (RU) used for a PPDU is described. An RU may include a plurality of subcarriers (or tones). An RU may be used to transmit a signal to a plurality of STAs according to OFDMA. Further, an RU may also be defined to transmit a signal to one STA. An RU may be used for an STF, an LTF, a data field, or the like.

FIG. 5 illustrates a layout of resource units (RUs) used in a band of 20 MHz.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, resource units (RUs) corresponding to different numbers of tones (i.e., subcarriers) may be used to form some fields of an HE-PPDU. For example, resources may be allocated in illustrated RUs for an HE-STF, an HE-LTF, and a data field.

As illustrated in the uppermost part of FIG. 5, a 26-unit (i.e., a unit corresponding to 26 tones) may be disposed. Six tones may be used for a guard band in the leftmost band of the 20 MHz band, and five tones may be used for a guard band in the rightmost band of the 20 MHz band. Further, seven DC tones may be inserted in a center band, that is, a DC band, and a 26-unit corresponding to 13 tones on each of the left and right sides of the DC band may be disposed. A 26-unit, a 52-unit, and a 106-unit may be allocated to other bands. Each unit may be allocated for a receiving STA, that is, a user.

The layout of the RUs in FIG. 5 may be used not only for a multiple users (MUs) but also for a single user (SU), in which case one 242-unit may be used and three DC tones may be inserted as illustrated in the lowermost part of FIG. 5.

Although FIG. 5 proposes RUs having various sizes, that is, a 26-RU, a 52-RU, a 106-RU, and a 242-RU, specific sizes of RUs may be extended or increased. Therefore, the present embodiment is not limited to the specific size of each RU (i.e., the number of corresponding tones).

FIG. 6 illustrates a layout of RUs used in a band of 40 MHz.

Similarly to FIG. 5 in which RUs having various sizes are used, a 26-RU, a 52-RU, a 106-RU, a 242-RU, a 484-RU, and the like may be used in an example of FIG. 6. Further, five DC tones may be inserted in a center frequency, 12 tones may be used for a guard band in the leftmost band of the 40 MHz band, and 11 tones may be used for a guard band in the rightmost band of the 40 MHz band.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, when the layout of the RUs is used for a single user, a 484-RU may be used. The specific number of RUs may be changed similarly to FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 illustrates a layout of RUs used in a band of 80 MHz.

Similarly to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 in which RUs having various sizes are used, a 26-RU, a 52-RU, a 106-RU, a 242-RU, a 484-RU, a 996-RU, and the like may be used in an example of FIG. 7. Further, seven DC tones may be inserted in the center frequency, 12 tones may be used for a guard band in the leftmost band of the 80 MHz band, and 11 tones may be used for a guard band in the rightmost band of the 80 MHz band. In addition, a 26-RU corresponding to 13 tones on each of the left and right sides of the DC band may be used.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, when the layout of the RUs is used for a single user, a 996-RU may be used, in which case five DC tones may be inserted.

The RU described in the present specification may be used in uplink (UL) communication and downlink (DL) communication. For example, when UL-MU communication which is solicited by a trigger frame is performed, a transmitting STA (e.g., an AP) may allocate a first RU (e.g., 26/52/106/242-RU, etc.) to a first STA through the trigger frame, and may allocate a second RU (e.g., 26/52/106/242-RU, etc.) to a second STA. Thereafter, the first STA may transmit a first trigger-based PPDU based on the first RU, and the second STA may transmit a second trigger-based PPDU based on the second RU. The first/second trigger-based PPDU is transmitted to the AP at the same (or overlapped) time period.

For example, when a DL MU PPDU is configured, the transmitting STA (e.g., AP) may allocate the first RU (e.g., 26/52/106/242-RU. etc.) to the first STA, and may allocate the second RU (e.g., 26/52/106/242-RU, etc.) to the second STA. That is, the transmitting STA (e.g., AP) may transmit HE-STF, HE-LTF, and Data fields for the first STA through the first RU in one MU PPDU, and may transmit HE-STF, HE-LTF, and Data fields for the second STA through the second RU.

Information related to a layout of the RU may be signaled through HE-SIG-B.

FIG. 8 illustrates a structure of an HE-SIG-B field.

As illustrated, an HE-SIG-B field 810 includes a common field 820 and a user-specific field 830. The common field 820 may include information commonly applied to all users (i.e., user STAs) which receive SIG-B. The user-specific field 830 may be called a user-specific control field. When the SIG-B is transferred to a plurality of users, the user-specific field 830 may be applied only any one of the plurality of users.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the common field 820 and the user-specific field 830 may be separately encoded.

The common field 820 may include RU allocation information of N*8 bits. For example, the RU allocation information may include information related to a location of an RU. For example, when a 20 MHz channel is used as shown in FIG. 5, the RU allocation information may include information related to a specific frequency band to which a specific RU (26-RU/52-RU/106-RU) is arranged.

An example of a case in which the RU allocation information consists of 8 bits is as follows.

TABLE 1 8 bits indices (B7 B6 B5 B4 Number B3 B2 B1 B0) #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 of entries 00000000 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 1 00000001 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 52 1 00000010 26 26 26 26 26 52 26 26 1 00000011 26 26 26 26 26 52 52 1 00000100 26 26 52 26 26 26 26 26 1 00000101 26 26 52 26 26 26 52 1 00000110 26 26 52 26 52 26 26 1 00000111 26 26 52 26 52 52 1 00001000 52 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 1

As shown the example of FIG. 5, up to nine 26-RUs may be allocated to the 20 MHz channel. When the RU allocation information of the common field 820 is set to “00000000” as shown in Table 1, the nine 26-RUs may be allocated to a corresponding channel (i.e., 20 MHz). In addition, when the RU allocation information of the common field 820 is set to “00000001” as shown in Table 1, seven 26-RUs and one 52-RU are arranged in a corresponding channel. That is, in the example of FIG. 5, the 52-RU may be allocated to the rightmost side, and the seven 26-RUs may be allocated to the left thereof.

The example of Table 1 shows only some of RU locations capable of displaying the RU allocation information.

For example, the RU allocation information may include an example of Table 2 below.

TABLE 2 8 bits indices (B7 B6 B5 B4 Number B3 B2 B1 B0) #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 # 8 #9 of entries 01000y₂y₁y₀ 106 26 26 26 26 26 8 01001y₂y₁y₀ 106 26 26 26 52 8

“01000y2y1y0” relates to an example in which a 106-RU is allocated to the leftmost side of the 20 MHz channel, and five 26-RUs are allocated to the right side thereof. In this case, a plurality of STAs (e.g., user-STAs) may be allocated to the 106-RU, based on a MU-MIMO scheme. Specifically, up to 8 STAs (e.g., user-STAs) may be allocated to the 106-RU, and the number of STAs (e.g., user-STAs) allocated to the 106-RU is determined based on 3-bit information (y2y1y0). For example, when the 3-bit information (y2y1y0) is set to N, the number of STAs (e.g., user-STAs) allocated to the 106-RU based on the MU-MIMO scheme may be N+1.

In general, a plurality of STAs (e.g., user STAs) different from each other may be allocated to a plurality of RUs. However, the plurality of STAs (e.g., user STAs) may be allocated to one or more RUs having at least a specific size (e.g., 106 subcarriers), based on the MU-MIMO scheme.

As shown in FIG. 8, the user-specific field 830 may include a plurality of user fields. As described above, the number of STAs (e.g., user STAs) allocated to a specific channel may be determined based on the RU allocation information of the common field 820. For example, when the RU allocation information of the common field 820 is “00000000”, one user STA may be allocated to each of nine 26-RUs (e.g., nine user STAs may be allocated). That is, up to 9 user STAs may be allocated to a specific channel through an OFDMA scheme. In other words, up to 9 user STAs may be allocated to a specific channel through a non-MU-MIMO scheme.

For example, when RU allocation is set to “01000y2y1y0”, a plurality of STAs may be allocated to the 106-RU arranged at the leftmost side through the MU-MIMO scheme, and five user STAs may be allocated to five 26-RUs arranged to the right side thereof through the non-MU MIMO scheme. This case is specified through an example of FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example in which a plurality of user STAs are allocated to the same RU through a MU-MIMO scheme.

For example, when RU allocation is set to “01000010” as shown in FIG. 9, a 106-RU may be allocated to the leftmost side of a specific channel, and five 26-RUs may be allocated to the right side thereof. In addition, three user STAs may be allocated to the 106-RU through the MU-MIMO scheme. As a result, since eight user STAs are allocated, the user-specific field 830 of HE-SIG-B may include eight user fields.

The eight user fields may be expressed in the order shown in FIG. 9. In addition, as shown in FIG. 8, two user fields may be implemented with one user block field.

The user fields shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 may be configured based on two formats. That is, a user field related to a MU-MIMO scheme may be configured in a first format, and a user field related to a non-MIMO scheme may be configured in a second format. Referring to the example of FIG. 9, a user field 1 to a user field 3 may be based on the first format, and a user field 4 to a user field 8 may be based on the second format. The first format or the second format may include bit information of the same length (e.g., 21 bits).

Each user field may have the same size (e.g., 21 bits). For example, the user field of the first format (the first of the MU-MIMO scheme) may be configured as follows.

For example, a first bit (i.e., B0-B10) in the user field (i.e., 21 bits) may include identification information (e.g., STA-ID, partial AID, etc.) of a user STA to which a corresponding user field is allocated. In addition, a second bit (i.e., B11-B14) in the user field (i.e., 21 bits) may include information related to a spatial configuration. Specifically, an example of the second bit (i.e., B11-B14) may be as shown in Table 3 and Table 4 below.

TABLE 3 N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) Total Number N_(user) B3 . . . B0 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] N_(STS) of entries 2 0000-0011 1-4 1 2-5 10 0100-0110 2-4 2 4-6 0111-1000 3-4 3 6-7 1001 4 4 8 3 0000-0011 1-4 1 1 3-6 13 0100-0110 2-4 2 1 5-7 0111-1000 3-4 3 1 7-8 1001-1011 2-4 2 2 6-8 1100 3 3 2 8 4 0000-0011 1-4 1 1 1 4-7 11 0100-0110 2-4 2 1 1 6-8 0111 3 3 1 1 8 1000-1001 2-3 2 2 1 7-8 1010 2 2 2 2 8

TABLE 4 N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) N_(STS) Total Number N_(user) B3 . . . B0 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] N_(STS) of entries 5 0000-0011 1-4 1 1 l l 5-8 7 0100-0101 2-3 2 1 1 l 7-8 0110 2 2 2 1 1 8 6 0000-0010 1-3 1 1 l 1 1 6-8 4 0011 2 2 1 l 1 1 8 7 0000-0001 1-2 1 1 I 1 1 1 7-8 2 8 0000 1 1 1 l 1 1 1 1 8 1

As shown in Table 3 and/or Table 4, the second bit (e.g., B11-B14) may include information related to the number of spatial streams allocated to the plurality of user STAs which are allocated based on the MU-MIMO scheme. For example, when three user STAs are allocated to the 106-RU based on the MU-MIMO scheme as shown in FIG. 9, N user is set to “3”. Therefore, values of N_STS[1], N_STS[2], and N_STS[3] may be determined as shown in Table 3. For example, when a value of the second bit (B11-B14) is “0011”, it may be set to N_STS[1]=4, N_STS[2]=1, N_STS[3]=1. That is, in the example of FIG. 9, four spatial streams may be allocated to the user field 1, one spatial stream may be allocated to the user field 1, and one spatial stream may be allocated to the user field 3.

As shown in the example of Table 3 and/or Table 4, information (i.e., the second bit, B11-B14) related to the number of spatial streams for the user STA may consist of 4 bits. In addition, the information (i.e., the second bit, B11-B14) on the number of spatial streams for the user STA may support up to eight spatial streams. In addition, the information (i.e., the second bit, B11-B14) on the number of spatial streams for the user STA may support up to four spatial streams for one user STA.

In addition, a third bit (i.e., B15-18) in the user field (i.e., 21 bits) may include modulation and coding scheme (MCS) information. The MCS information may be applied to a data field in a PPDU including corresponding SIG-B.

An MCS, MCS information, an MCS index, an MCS field, or the like used in the present specification may be indicated by an index value. For example, the MCS information may be indicated by an index 0 to an index 11. The MCS information may include information related to a constellation modulation type (e.g., BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, 1024-QAM, etc.) and information related to a coding rate (e.g., ½, ⅔, ¾, ⅚e, etc.). Information related to a channel coding type (e.g., LCC or LDPC) may be excluded in the MCS information.

In addition, a fourth bit (i.e., B19) in the user field (i.e., 21 bits) may be a reserved field.

In addition, a fifth bit (i.e., B20) in the user field (i.e., 21 bits) may include information related to a coding type (e.g., BCC or LDPC). That is, the fifth bit (i.e., B20) may include information related to a type (e.g., BCC or LDPC) of channel coding applied to the data field in the PPDU including the corresponding SIG-B.

The aforementioned example relates to the user field of the first format (the format of the MU-MIMO scheme). An example of the user field of the second format (the format of the non-MU-MIMO scheme) is as follows.

A first bit (e.g., B0-B10) in the user field of the second format may include identification information of a user STA. In addition, a second bit (e.g., B11-B13) in the user field of the second format may include information related to the number of spatial streams applied to a corresponding RU. In addition, a third bit (e.g., B14) in the user field of the second format may include information related to whether a beamforming steering matrix is applied. A fourth bit (e.g., B15-B18) in the user field of the second format may include modulation and coding scheme (MCS) information. In addition, a fifth bit (e.g., B19) in the user field of the second format may include information related to whether dual carrier modulation (DCM) is applied. In addition, a sixth bit (i.e., B20) in the user field of the second format may include information related to a coding type (e.g., BCC or LDPC).

FIG. 10 illustrates an operation based on UL-MU. As illustrated, a transmitting STA (e.g., an AP) may perform channel access through contending (e.g., a backoff operation), and may transmit a trigger frame 1030. That is, the transmitting STA may transmit a PPDU including the trigger frame 1030. Upon receiving the PPDU including the trigger frame, a trigger-based (TB) PPDU is transmitted after a delay corresponding to SIFS.

TB PPDUs 1041 and 1042 may be transmitted at the same time period, and may be transmitted from a plurality of STAs (e.g., user STAs) having AIDs indicated in the trigger frame 1030. An ACK frame 1050 for the TB PPDU may be implemented in various forms.

A specific feature of the trigger frame is described with reference to FIG. 11 to FIG. 13. Even if UL-MU communication is used, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) scheme or a MU MIMO scheme may be used, and the OFDMA and MU-MIMO schemes may be simultaneously used.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a trigger frame. The trigger frame of FIG. 11 allocates a resource for uplink multiple-user (MU) transmission, and may be transmitted, for example, from an AP. The trigger frame may be configured of a MAC frame, and may be included in a PPDU.

Each field shown in FIG. 11 may be partially omitted, and another field may be added. In addition, a length of each field may be changed to be different from that shown in the figure.

A frame control field 1110 of FIG. 11 may include information related to a MAC protocol version and extra additional control information. A duration field 1120 may include time information for NAV configuration or information related to an identifier (e.g., AID) of a STA.

In addition, an RA field 1130 may include address information of a receiving STA of a corresponding trigger frame, and may be optionally omitted. A TA field 1140 may include address information of a STA (e.g., an AP) which transmits the corresponding trigger frame. A common information field 1150 includes common control information applied to the receiving STA which receives the corresponding trigger frame. For example, a field indicating a length of an L-SIG field of an uplink PPDU transmitted in response to the corresponding trigger frame or information for controlling content of a SIG-A field (i.e., HE-SIG-A field) of the uplink PPDU transmitted in response to the corresponding trigger frame may be included. In addition, as common control information, information related to a length of a CP of the uplink PPDU transmitted in response to the corresponding trigger frame or information related to a length of an LTF field may be included.

In addition, per user information fields 1160#1 to 1160#N corresponding to the number of receiving STAs which receive the trigger frame of FIG. 11 are preferably included. The per user information field may also be called an “allocation field”.

In addition, the trigger frame of FIG. 11 may include a padding field 1170 and a frame check sequence field 1180.

Each of the per user information fields 1160#1 to 1160#N shown in FIG. 11 may include a plurality of subfields.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a common information field of a trigger frame. A subfield of FIG. 12 may be partially omitted, and an extra subfield may be added. In addition, a length of each subfield illustrated may be changed.

A length field 1210 illustrated has the same value as a length field of an L-SIG field of an uplink PPDU transmitted in response to a corresponding trigger frame, and a length field of the L-SIG field of the uplink PPDU indicates a length of the uplink PPDU. As a result, the length field 1210 of the trigger frame may be used to indicate the length of the corresponding uplink PPDU.

In addition, a cascade identifier field 1220 indicates whether a cascade operation is performed. The cascade operation implies that downlink MU transmission and uplink MU transmission are performed together in the same TXOP. That is, it implies that downlink MU transmission is performed and thereafter uplink MU transmission is performed after a pre-set time (e.g., SIFS). During the cascade operation, only one transmitting device (e.g., AP) may perform downlink communication, and a plurality of transmitting devices (e.g., non-APs) may perform uplink communication.

A CS request field 1230 indicates whether a wireless medium state or a NAV or the like is necessarily considered in a situation where a receiving device which has received a corresponding trigger frame transmits a corresponding uplink PPDU.

An HE-SIG-A information field 1240 may include information for controlling content of a SIG-A field (i.e., HE-SIG-A field) of the uplink PPDU in response to the corresponding trigger frame.

A CP and LTF type field 1250 may include information related to a CP length and LTF length of the uplink PPDU transmitted in response to the corresponding trigger frame. A trigger type field 1260 may indicate a purpose of using the corresponding trigger frame, for example, typical triggering, triggering for beamforming, a request for block ACK/NACK, or the like.

It may be assumed that the trigger type field 1260 of the trigger frame in the present specification indicates a trigger frame of a basic type for typical triggering. For example, the trigger frame of the basic type may be referred to as a basic trigger frame.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a subfield included in a per user information field. A user information field 1300 of FIG. 13 may be understood as any one of the per user information fields 1160#1 to 1160#N mentioned above with reference to FIG. 11. A subfield included in the user information field 1300 of FIG. 13 may be partially omitted, and an extra subfield may be added. In addition, a length of each subfield illustrated may be changed.

A user identifier field 1310 of FIG. 13 indicates an identifier of a STA (i.e., receiving STA) corresponding to per user information. An example of the identifier may be the entirety or part of an association identifier (AID) value of the receiving STA.

In addition, an RU allocation field 1320 may be included. That is, when the receiving STA identified through the user identifier field 1310 transmits a TB PPDU in response to the trigger frame, the TB PPDU is transmitted through an RU indicated by the RU allocation field 1320. In this case, the RU indicated by the RU allocation field 1320 may be an RU shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6, and FIG. 7.

The subfield of FIG. 13 may include a coding type field 1330. The coding type field 1330 may indicate a coding type of the TB PPDU. For example, when BCC coding is applied to the TB PPDU, the coding type field 1330 may be set to ‘1’, and when LDPC coding is applied, the coding type field 1330 may be set to ‘0’.

In addition, the subfield of FIG. 13 may include an MCS field 1340. The MCS field 1340 may indicate an MCS scheme applied to the TB PPDU. For example, when BCC coding is applied to the TB PPDU, the coding type field 1330 may be set to ‘1’, and when LDPC coding is applied, the coding type field 1330 may be set to ‘0’.

Hereinafter, a UL OFDMA-based random access (UORA) scheme will be described.

FIG. 14 describes a technical feature of the UORA scheme.

A transmitting STA (e.g., an AP) may allocate six RU resources through a trigger frame as shown in FIG. 14. Specifically, the AP may allocate a 1st RU resource (AID 0, RU 1), a 2nd RU resource (AID 0, RU 2), a 3rd RU resource (AID 0, RU 3), a 4th RU resource (AID 2045, RU 4), a 5th RU resource (AID 2045, RU 5), and a 6th RU resource (AID 3, RU 6). Information related to the AID 0, AID 3, or AID 2045 may be included, for example, in the user identifier field 1310 of FIG. 13. Information related to the RU 1 to RU 6 may be included, for example, in the RU allocation field 1320 of FIG. 13. AID=0 may imply a UORA resource for an associated STA, and AID=2045 may imply a UORA resource for an un-associated STA. Accordingly, the 1st to 3rd RU resources of FIG. 14 may be used as a UORA resource for the associated STA, the 4th and 5th RU resources of FIG. 14 may be used as a UORA resource for the un-associated STA, and the 6th RU resource of FIG. 14 may be used as a typical resource for UL MU.

In the example of FIG. 14, an OFDMA random access backoff (OBO) of a STA1 is decreased to 0, and the STA1 randomly selects the 2nd RU resource (AID 0, RU 2). In addition, since an OBO counter of a STA2/3 is greater than 0, an uplink resource is not allocated to the STA2/3. In addition, regarding a STA4 in FIG. 14, since an AID (e.g., AID=3) of the STA4 is included in a trigger frame, a resource of the RU 6 is allocated without backoff.

Specifically, since the STA1 of FIG. 14 is an associated STA, the total number of eligible RA RUs for the STA1 is 3 (RU 1, RU 2, and RU 3), and thus the STA1 decreases an OBO counter by 3 so that the OBO counter becomes 0. In addition, since the STA2 of FIG. 14 is an associated STA, the total number of eligible RA RUs for the STA2 is 3 (RU 1, RU 2, and RU 3), and thus the STA2 decreases the OBO counter by 3 but the OBO counter is greater than 0. In addition, since the STA3 of FIG. 14 is an un-associated STA, the total number of eligible RA RUs for the STA3 is 2 (RU 4, RU 5), and thus the STA3 decreases the OBO counter by 2 but the OBO counter is greater than 0.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of a channel used/supported/defined within a 2.4 GHz band.

The 2.4 GHz band may be called in other terms such as a first band. In addition, the 2.4 GHz band may imply a frequency domain in which channels of which a center frequency is close to 2.4 GHz (e.g., channels of which a center frequency is located within 2.4 to 2.5 GHz) are used/supported/defined.

A plurality of 20 MHz channels may be included in the 2.4 GHz band. 20 MHz within the 2.4 GHz may have a plurality of channel indices (e.g., an index 1 to an index 14). For example, a center frequency of a 20 MHz channel to which a channel index 1 is allocated may be 2.412 GHz, a center frequency of a 20 MHz channel to which a channel index 2 is allocated may be 2.417 GHz, and a center frequency of a 20 MHz channel to which a channel index N is allocated may be (2.407+0.005*N) GHz. The channel index may be called in various terms such as a channel number or the like. Specific numerical values of the channel index and center frequency may be changed.

FIG. 15 exemplifies 4 channels within a 2.4 GHz band. Each of 1st to 4th frequency domains 1510 to 1540 shown herein may include one channel. For example, the 1st frequency domain 1510 may include a channel 1 (a 20 MHz channel having an index 1). In this case, a center frequency of the channel 1 may be set to 2412 MHz. The 2nd frequency domain 1520 may include a channel 6. In this case, a center frequency of the channel 6 may be set to 2437 MHz. The 3rd frequency domain 1530 may include a channel 11. In this case, a center frequency of the channel 11 may be set to 2462 MHz. The 4th frequency domain 1540 may include a channel 14. In this case, a center frequency of the channel 14 may be set to 2484 MHz.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a channel used/supported/defined within a 5 GHz band.

The 5 GHz band may be called in other terms such as a second band or the like. The 5 GHz band may imply a frequency domain in which channels of which a center frequency is greater than or equal to 5 GHz and less than 6 GHz (or less than 5.9 GHz) are used/supported/defined. Alternatively, the 5 GHz band may include a plurality of channels between 4.5 GHz and 5.5 GHz. A specific numerical value shown in FIG. 16 may be changed.

A plurality of channels within the 5 GHz band include an unlicensed national information infrastructure (UNII)-1, a UNII-2, a UNII-3, and an ISM. The INII-1 may be called UNII Low. The UNII-2 may include a frequency domain called UNII Mid and UNII-2Extended. The UNII-3 may be called UNII-Upper.

A plurality of channels may be configured within the 5 GHz band, and a bandwidth of each channel may be variously set to, for example, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, or the like. For example, 5170 MHz to 5330 MHz frequency domains/ranges within the UNII-1 and UNII-2 may be divided into eight 20 MHz channels. The 5170 MHz to 5330 MHz frequency domains/ranges may be divided into four channels through a 40 MHz frequency domain. The 5170 MHz to 5330 MHz frequency domains/ranges may be divided into two channels through an 80 MHz frequency domain. Alternatively, the 5170 MHz to 5330 MHz frequency domains/ranges may be divided into one channel through a 160 MHz frequency domain.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example of a channel used/supported/defined within a 6 GHz band.

The 6 GHz band may be called in other terms such as a third band or the like. The 6 GHz band may imply a frequency domain in which channels of which a center frequency is greater than or equal to 5.9 GHz are used/supported/defined. A specific numerical value shown in FIG. 17 may be changed.

For example, the 20 MHz channel of FIG. 17 may be defined starting from 5.940 GHz. Specifically, among 20 MHz channels of FIG. 17, the leftmost channel may have an index 1 (or a channel index, a channel number, etc.), and 5.945 GHz may be assigned as a center frequency. That is, a center frequency of a channel of an index N may be determined as (5.940+0.005*N) GHz.

Accordingly, an index (or channel number) of the 2 MHz channel of FIG. 17 may be 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37, 41, 45, 49, 53, 57, 61, 65, 69, 73, 77, 81, 85, 89, 93, 97, 101, 105, 109, 113, 117, 121, 125, 129, 133, 137, 141, 145, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165, 169, 173, 177, 181, 185, 189, 193, 197, 201, 205, 209, 213, 217, 221, 225, 229, 233. In addition, according to the aforementioned (5.940+0.005*N) GHz rule, an index of the 40 MHz channel of FIG. 17 may be 3, 11, 19, 27, 35, 43, 51, 59, 67, 75, 83, 91, 99, 107, 115, 123, 131, 139, 147, 155, 163, 171, 179, 187, 195, 203, 211, 219, 227.

Although 20, 40, 80, and 160 MHz channels are illustrated in the example of FIG. 17, a 240 MHz channel or a 320 MHz channel may be additionally added.

Hereinafter, a PPDU transmitted/received in a STA of the present specification will be described.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example of a PPDU used in the present specification.

The PPDU of FIG. 18 may be called in various terms such as an EHT PPDU, a TX PPDU, an RX PPDU, a first type or N-th type PPDU, or the like. For example, in the present specification, the PPDU or the EHT PPDU may be called in various terms such as a TX PPDU, a RX PPDU, a first type or N-th type PPDU, or the like. In addition, the EHT PPDU may be used in an EHT system and/or a new WLAN system enhanced from the EHT system.

The PPDU of FIG. 18 may represent some or all of the PPDU types used in the EHT system. For example, the example of FIG. 18 may be used for both a single-user (SU) mode and a multi-user (MU) mode, or may be used only for the SU mode, or may be used only for the MU mode. For example, a trigger-based PPDU (TB) on the EHT system may be separately defined or configured based on the example of FIG. 18. The trigger frame described through at least one of FIGS. 10 to 14 and the UL-MU operation (e.g., the TB PPDU transmission operation) started by the trigger frame may be directly applied to the EHT system.

In FIG. 18, an L-STF to an EHT-LTF may be called a preamble or a physical preamble, and may be generated/transmitted/received/obtained/decoded in a physical layer.

A subcarrier spacing of the L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, U-SIG, and EHT-SIG fields of FIG. 18 may be determined as 312.5 kHz, and a subcarrier spacing of the EHT-STF, EHT-LTF, and Data fields may be determined as 78.125 kHz. That is, a tone index (or subcarrier index) of the L-STF, L-LTF, L-SIG, RL-SIG, U-SIG, and EHT-SIG fields may be expressed in unit of 312.5 kHz, and a tone index (or subcarrier index) of the EHT-STF, EHT-LTF, and Data fields may be expressed in unit of 78.125 kHz.

In the PPDU of FIG. 18, the L-LTF and the L-STF may be the same as those in the conventional fields.

The L-SIG field of FIG. 18 may include, for example, bit information of 24 bits. For example, the 24-bit information may include a rate field of 4 bits, a reserved bit of 1 bit, a length field of 12 bits, a parity bit of 1 bit, and a tail bit of 6 bits. For example, the length field of 12 bits may include information related to a length or time duration of a PPDU. For example, the length field of 12 bits may be determined based on a type of the PPDU. For example, when the PPDU is a non-HT, HT, VHT PPDU or an EHT PPDU, a value of the length field may be determined as a multiple of 3. For example, when the PPDU is an HE PPDU, the value of the length field may be determined as “a multiple of 3”+1 or “a multiple of 3”+2. In other words, for the non-HT, HT, VHT PPDI or the EHT PPDU, the value of the length field may be determined as a multiple of 3, and for the HE PPDU, the value of the length field may be determined as “a multiple of 3”+1 or “a multiple of 3”+2.

For example, the transmitting STA may apply BCC encoding based on a ½ coding rate to the 24-bit information of the L-SIG field. Thereafter, the transmitting STA may obtain a BCC coding bit of 48 bits. BPSK modulation may be applied to the 48-bit coding bit, thereby generating 48 BPSK symbols. The transmitting STA may map the 48 BPSK symbols to positions except for a pilot subcarrier {subcarrier index −21, −7, +7, +21} and a DC subcarrier {subcarrier index 0}. As a result, the 48 BPSK symbols may be mapped to subcarrier indices −26 to −22, −20 to −8, −6 to −1, +1 to +6, +8 to +20, and +22 to +26. The transmitting STA may additionally map a signal of {−1, −1, −1, 1} to a subcarrier index {−28, −27, +27, +28}. The aforementioned signal may be used for channel estimation on a frequency domain corresponding to {−28, −27, +27, +28}.

The transmitting STA may generate an RL-SIG generated in the same manner as the L-SIG. BPSK modulation may be applied to the RL-SIG. The receiving STA may know that the RX PPDU is the HE PPDU or the EHT PPDU, based on the presence of the RL-SIG.

A universal SIG (U-SIG) may be inserted after the RL-SIG of FIG. 18. The U-SIG may be called in various terms such as a first SIG field, a first SIG, a first type SIG, a control signal, a control signal field, a first (type) control signal, or the like.

The U-SIG may include information of N bits, and may include information for identifying a type of the EHT PPDU. For example, the U-SIG may be configured based on two symbols (e.g., two contiguous OFDM symbols). Each symbol (e.g., OFDM symbol) for the U-SIG may have a duration of 4 μs. Each symbol of the U-SIG may be used to transmit the 26-bit information. For example, each symbol of the U-SIG may be transmitted/received based on 52 data tomes and 4 pilot tones.

Through the U-SIG (or U-SIG field), for example, A-bit information (e.g., 52 un-coded bits) may be transmitted. A first symbol of the U-SIG may transmit first X-bit information (e.g., 26 un-coded bits) of the A-bit information, and a second symbol of the U-SIG may transmit the remaining Y-bit information (e.g. 26 un-coded bits) of the A-bit information. For example, the transmitting STA may obtain 26 un-coded bits included in each U-SIG symbol. The transmitting STA may perform convolutional encoding (i.e., BCC encoding) based on a rate of R=½ to generate 52-coded bits, and may perform interleaving on the 52-coded bits. The transmitting STA may perform BPSK modulation on the interleaved 52-coded bits to generate 52 BPSK symbols to be allocated to each U-SIG symbol. One U-SIG symbol may be transmitted based on 65 tones (subcarriers) from a subcarrier index −28 to a subcarrier index +28, except for a DC index 0. The 52 BPSK symbols generated by the transmitting STA may be transmitted based on the remaining tones (subcarriers) except for pilot tones, i.e., tones −21, −7, +7, +21.

For example, the A-bit information (e.g., 52 un-coded bits) generated by the U-SIG may include a CRC field (e.g., a field having a length of 4 bits) and a tail field (e.g., a field having a length of 6 bits). The CRC field and the tail field may be transmitted through the second symbol of the U-SIG. The CRC field may be generated based on 26 bits allocated to the first symbol of the U-SIG and the remaining 16 bits except for the CRC/tail fields in the second symbol, and may be generated based on the conventional CRC calculation algorithm. In addition, the tail field may be used to terminate trellis of a convolutional decoder, and may be set to, for example, “000000”.

The A-bit information (e.g., 52 un-coded bits) transmitted by the U-SIG (or U-SIG field) may be divided into version-independent bits and version-dependent bits. For example, the version-independent bits may have a fixed or variable size. For example, the version-independent bits may be allocated only to the first symbol of the U-SIG, or the version-independent bits may be allocated to both of the first and second symbols of the U-SIG. For example, the version-independent bits and the version-dependent bits may be called in various terms such as a first control bit, a second control bit, or the like.

For example, the version-independent bits of the U-SIG may include a PHY version identifier of 3 bits. For example, the PHY version identifier of 3 bits may include information related to a PHY version of a TX/RX PPDU. For example, a first value of the PHY version identifier of 3 bits may indicate that the TX/RX PPDU is an EHT PPDU. In other words, when the transmitting STA transmits the EHT PPDU, the PHY version identifier of 3 bits may be set to a first value. In other words, the receiving STA may determine that the RX PPDU is the EHT PPDU, based on the PHY version identifier having the first value.

For example, the version-independent bits of the U-SIG may include a UL/DL flag field of 1 bit. A first value of the UL/DL flag field of 1 bit relates to UL communication, and a second value of the UL/DL flag field relates to DL communication.

For example, the version-independent bits of the U-SIG may include information related to a TXOP length and information related to a BSS color ID.

For example, when the EHT PPDU is divided into various types (e.g., various types such as an EHT PPDU related to an SU mode, an EHT PPDU related to a MU mode, an EHT PPDU related to a TB mode, an EHT PPDU related to extended range transmission, or the like), information related to the type of the EHT PPDU may be included in the version-dependent bits of the U-SIG.

For example, the U-SIG may include: 1) a bandwidth field including information related to a bandwidth; 2) a field including information related to an MCS scheme applied to EHT-SIG; 3) an indication field including information regarding whether a dual subcarrier modulation (DCM) scheme is applied to EHT-SIG; 4) a field including information related to the number of symbol used for EHT-SIG; 5) a field including information regarding whether the EHT-SIG is generated across a full band; 6) a field including information related to a type of EHT-LTF/STF; and 7) information related to a field indicating an EHT-LTF length and a CP length.

Preamble puncturing may be applied to the PPDU of FIG. 18. The preamble puncturing implies that puncturing is applied to part (e.g., a secondary 20 MHz band) of the full band. For example, when an 80 MHz PPDU is transmitted, a STA may apply puncturing to the secondary 20 MHz band out of the 80 MHz band, and may transmit a PPDU only through a primary 20 MHz band and a secondary 40 MHz band.

For example, a pattern of the preamble puncturing may be configured in advance. For example, when a first puncturing pattern is applied, puncturing may be applied only to the secondary 20 MHz band within the 80 MHz band. For example, when a second puncturing pattern is applied, puncturing may be applied to only any one of two secondary 20 MHz bands included in the secondary 40 MHz band within the 80 MHz band. For example, when a third puncturing pattern is applied, puncturing may be applied to only the secondary 20 MHz band included in the primary 80 MHz band within the 160 MHz band (or 80+80 MHz band). For example, when a fourth puncturing is applied, puncturing may be applied to at least one 20 MHz channel not belonging to a primary 40 MHz band in the presence of the primary 40 MHz band included in the 80 MHz band within the 160 MHz band (or 80+80 MHz band).

Information related to the preamble puncturing applied to the PPDU may be included in U-SIG and/or EHT-SIG. For example, a first field of the U-SIG may include information related to a contiguous bandwidth, and second field of the U-SIG may include information related to the preamble puncturing applied to the PPDU.

For example, the U-SIG and the EHT-SIG may include the information related to the preamble puncturing, based on the following method. When a bandwidth of the PPDU exceeds 80 MHz, the U-SIG may be configured individually in unit of 80 MHz. For example, when the bandwidth of the PPDU is 160 MHz, the PPDU may include a first U-SIG for a first 80 MHz band and a second U-SIG for a second 80 MHz band. In this case, a first field of the first U-SIG may include information related to a 160 MHz bandwidth, and a second field of the first U-SIG may include information related to a preamble puncturing (i.e., information related to a preamble puncturing pattern) applied to the first 80 MHz band. In addition, a first field of the second U-SIG may include information related to a 160 MHz bandwidth, and a second field of the second U-SIG may include information related to a preamble puncturing (i.e., information related to a preamble puncturing pattern) applied to the second 80 MHz band. Meanwhile, an EHT-SIG contiguous to the first U-SIG may include information related to a preamble puncturing applied to the second 80 MHz band (i.e., information related to a preamble puncturing pattern), and an EHT-SIG contiguous to the second U-SIG may include information related to a preamble puncturing (i.e., information related to a preamble puncturing pattern) applied to the first 80 MHz band.

Additionally or alternatively, the U-SIG and the EHT-SIG may include the information related to the preamble puncturing, based on the following method. The U-SIG may include information related to a preamble puncturing (i.e., information related to a preamble puncturing pattern) for all bands. That is, the EHT-SIG may not include the information related to the preamble puncturing, and only the U-SIG may include the information related to the preamble puncturing (i.e., the information related to the preamble puncturing pattern).

The U-SIG may be configured in unit of 20 MHz. For example, when an 80 MHz PPDU is configured, the U-SIG may be duplicated. That is, four identical U-SIGs may be included in the 80 MHz PPDU. PPDUs exceeding an 80 MHz bandwidth may include different U-SIGs.

The EHT-SIG of FIG. 18 may include the technical feature of the HE-SIG-B shown in the examples of FIGS. 8 to 9 as it is. The EHT-SIG may be referred to by various names such as a second SIG field, a second SIG, a second type SIG, a control signal, a control signal field, and a second (type) control signal.

The EHT-SIG may include N-bit information (e.g., 1-bit information) regarding whether the EHT-PPDU supports the SU mode or the MU mode.

The EHT-SIG may be configured based on various MCS schemes. As described above, information related to an MCS scheme applied to the EHT-SIG may be included in U-SIG. The EHT-SIG may be configured based on a DCM scheme. For example, among N data tones (e.g., 52 data tones) allocated for the EHT-SIG, a first modulation scheme may be applied to half of consecutive tones, and a second modulation scheme may be applied to the remaining half of the consecutive tones. That is, a transmitting STA may use the first modulation scheme to modulate specific control information through a first symbol and allocate it to half of the consecutive tones, and may use the second modulation scheme to modulate the same control information by using a second symbol and allocate it to the remaining half of the consecutive tones. As described above, information (e.g., a 1-bit field) regarding whether the DCM scheme is applied to the EHT-SIG may be included in the U-SIG. An HE-STF of FIG. 18 may be used for improving automatic gain control estimation in a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) environment or an OFDMA environment. An HE-LTF of FIG. 18 may be used for estimating a channel in the MIMO environment or the OFDMA environment.

The EHT-STF of FIG. 18 may be set in various types. For example, a first type of STF (e.g., lx STF) may be generated based on a first type STF sequence in which a non-zero coefficient is arranged with an interval of 16 subcarriers. An STF signal generated based on the first type STF sequence may have a period of 0.8 μs, and a periodicity signal of 0.8 μs may be repeated 5 times to become a first type STF having a length of 4 μs. For example, a second type of STF (e.g., 2×STF) may be generated based on a second type STF sequence in which a non-zero coefficient is arranged with an interval of 8 subcarriers. An STF signal generated based on the second type STF sequence may have a period of 1.6 μs, and a periodicity signal of 1.6 μs may be repeated 5 times to become a second type STF having a length of 8 μs. Hereinafter, an example of a sequence for configuring an EHT-STF (i.e., an EHT-STF sequence) is proposed. The following sequence may be modified in various ways.

The EHT-STF may be configured based on the following sequence M.

$\begin{matrix} {M = \left\{ {{- 1},\ {- 1},\ {- 1},1,1,1,\ {- 1},1,1,1,\ {- 1},1,1,\ {- 1},1} \right\}} & {\text{<}{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 1\text{>}} \end{matrix}$

The EHT-STF for the 20 MHz PPDU may be configured based on the following equation. The following example may be a first type (i.e., 1×STF) sequence. For example, the first type sequence may be included in not a trigger-based (TB) PPDU but an EHT-PPDU. In the following equation, (a:b:c) may imply a duration defined as b tone intervals (i.e., a subcarrier interval) from a tone index (i.e., subcarrier index) ‘a’ to a tone index ‘c’. For example, the equation 2 below may represent a sequence defined as 16 tone intervals from a tone index −112 to a tone index 112. Since a subcarrier spacing of 78.125 kHz is applied to the EHT-STR, the 16 tone intervals may imply that an EHT-STF coefficient (or element) is arranged with an interval of 78.125*16=1250 kHz. In addition, * implies multiplication, and sqrt( ) implies a square root. In addition, j implies an imaginary number.

$\begin{matrix} {{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {{- 112}\text{:}16\text{:}112} \right)}} = {\left\{ M \right\}*{\left( {1 + j} \right)/{{sqrt}(2)}}}}{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}(0)}} = 0}} & {\text{<}{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 2\text{>}} \end{matrix}$

The EHT-STF for the 40 MHz PPDU may be configured based on the following equation. The following example may be the first type (i.e., 1×STF) sequence.

$\begin{matrix} {{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {{- 240}\text{:}16\text{:}240} \right)}} = {\left\{ {M,0,{- M}} \right\}*{\left( {1 + j} \right)/{{sqrt}(2)}}}} & {\text{<}{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 3\text{>}} \end{matrix}$

The EHT-STF for the 80 MHz PPDU may be configured based on the following equation. The following example may be the first type (i.e., 1×STF) sequence.

$\begin{matrix} {{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {{- 496}\text{:}16\text{:}496} \right)}} = {\left\{ {M,1,{- M},0,{- M},1,{- M}} \right\}*{\left( {1 + j} \right)/{{sqrt}(2)}}}} & {\text{<}{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 4\text{>}} \end{matrix}$

The EHT-STF for the 160 MHz PPDU may be configured based on the following equation. The following example may be the first type (i.e., 1×STF) sequence.

$\begin{matrix} {{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {{- 1008}\text{:}16\text{:}1008} \right)}} = {\left\{ {M,1,{- M},0,{- M},1,{- M},0,{- M},{- 1},M,0,{- M},1,{- M}} \right\}*{\left( {1 + j} \right)/{{sqrt}(2)}}}} & {\text{<}{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 5\text{>}} \end{matrix}$

In the EHT-STF for the 80+80 MHz PPDU, a sequence for lower 80 MHz may be identical to Equation 4. In the EHT-STF for the 80+80 MHz PPDU, a sequence for upper 80 MHz may be configured based on the following equation.

$\begin{matrix} {{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {{- 496}\text{:}16\text{:}496} \right)}} = {\left\{ {{- M},{- 1},M,0,{- M},1,{- M}} \right\}*{\left( {1 + j} \right)/{{sqrt}(2)}}}} & {\text{<}{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 6\text{>}} \end{matrix}$

Equation 7 to Equation 11 below relate to an example of a second type (i.e., 2×STF) sequence.

$\begin{matrix} {{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {{- 120}\text{:}8\text{:}120} \right)}} = {\left\{ {M,0,{- M}} \right\}*{\left( {1 + j} \right)/{{sqrt}(2)}}}} & {\text{<}{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 7\text{>}} \end{matrix}$

The EHT-STF for the 40 MHz PPDU may be configured based on the following equation.

$\begin{matrix} {{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {{- 248}\text{:}8\text{:}248} \right)}} = {\left\{ {M,{- 1},{- M},0,M,{- 1},M} \right\}*{\left( {1 + j} \right)/{{sqrt}(2)}}}}{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {- 248} \right)}} = 0}{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}(248)}} = 0}} & {\text{<}{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 8\text{>}} \end{matrix}$

The EHT-STF for the 80 MHz PPDU may be configured based on the following equation.

$\begin{matrix} {{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {{- 504}\text{:}8\text{:}504} \right)}} = {\left\{ {M,{- 1},M,{- 1},{- M},{- 1},{- M},0,{- M},1,M,1,{- M},1,{- M}} \right\}*{\left( {1 + j} \right)/{{sqrt}(2)}}}} & {\text{<}{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 9\text{>}} \end{matrix}$

The EHT-STF for the 160 MHz PPDU may be configured based on the following equation.

$\begin{matrix} {{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {{- 1016}\text{:}16\text{:}1016} \right)}} = {\left\{ {M,{- 1},M,{- 1},{- M},{- 1},M,0,{- M},1,M,1,{- M},1,{- M},0,{- M},1,{- M},1,M,1,{- M},0,{- M},1,M,1,{- M},1,{- M}} \right\}*{\left( {1 + j} \right)/{{sqrt}(2)}}}}{{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {- 8} \right)}} = 0},{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}(8)}} = 0},{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {- 1016} \right)}} = 0},{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}(1016)}} = 0},}} & {\text{<}{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 10\text{>}} \end{matrix}$

In the EHT-STF for the 80+80 MHz PPDU, a sequence for lower 80 MHz may be identical to Equation 9. In the EHT-STF for the 80+80 MHz PPDU, a sequence for upper 80 MHz may be configured based on the following equation.

$\begin{matrix} {{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {{- 504}\text{:}8\text{:}504} \right)}} = {\left\{ {{- M},1,{- M},1,M,1,{- M},0,{- M},1,M,1,{- M},1,{- M}} \right\}*{\left( {1 + j} \right)/{{sqrt}(2)}}}}{{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}\left( {- 504} \right)}} = 0},{{{EHT}\text{-}{{STF}(504)}} = 0}}} & {\text{<}{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 11\text{>}} \end{matrix}$

The EHT-LTF may have first, second, and third types (i.e., 1×, 2×, 4×LTF). For example, the first/second/third type LTF may be generated based on an LTF sequence in which a non-zero coefficient is arranged with an interval of 4/2/1 subcarriers. The first/second/third type LTF may have a time length of 3.2/6.4/12.8 μs. In addition, a GI (e.g., 0.8/1/6/3.2 μs) having various lengths may be applied to the first/second/third type LTF.

Information related to a type of STF and/or LTF (information related to a GI applied to LTF is also included) may be included in a SIG-A field and/or SIG-B field or the like of FIG. 18.

A PPDU (e.g., EHT-PPDU) of FIG. 18 may be configured based on the example of FIG. 5 and FIG. 6.

For example, an EHT PPDU transmitted on a 20 MHz band, i.e., a 20 MHz EHT PPDU, may be configured based on the RU of FIG. 5. That is, a location of an RU of EHT-STF, EHT-LTF, and data fields included in the EHT PPDU may be determined as shown in FIG. 5.

An EHT PPDU transmitted on a 40 MHz band, i.e., a 40 MHz EHT PPDU, may be configured based on the RU of FIG. 6. That is, a location of an RU of EHT-STF, EHT-LTF, and data fields included in the EHT PPDU may be determined as shown in FIG. 6.

Since the RU location of FIG. 6 corresponds to 40 MHz, a tone-plan for 80 MHz may be determined when the pattern of FIG. 6 is repeated twice. That is, an 80 MHz EHT PPDU may be transmitted based on a new tone-plan in which not the RU of FIG. 7 but the RU of FIG. 6 is repeated twice.

When the pattern of FIG. 6 is repeated twice, 23 tones (i.e., 11 guard tones+12 guard tones) may be configured in a DC region. That is, a tone-plan for an 80 MHz EHT PPDU allocated based on OFDMA may have 23 DC tones. Unlike this, an 80 MHz EHT PPDU allocated based on non-OFDMA (i.e., a non-OFDMA full bandwidth 80 MHz PPDU) may be configured based on a 996-RU, and may include 5 DC tones, 12 left guard tones, and 11 right guard tones.

A tone-plan for 160/240/320 MHz may be configured in such a manner that the pattern of FIG. 6 is repeated several times.

The PPDU of FIG. 18 may be determined (or identified) as an EHT PPDU based on the following method.

A receiving STA may determine a type of an RX PPDU as the EHT PPDU, based on the following aspect. For example, the RX PPDU may be determined as the EHT PPDU: 1) when a first symbol after an L-LTF signal of the RX PPDU is a BPSK symbol; 2) when RL-SIG in which the L-SIG of the RX PPDU is repeated is detected; and 3) when a result of applying “module 3” to a value of a length field of the L-SIG of the RX PPDU is detected as “0”. When the RX PPDU is determined as the EHT PPDU, the receiving STA may detect a type of the EHT PPDU (e.g., an SU/MU/Trigger-based/Extended Range type), based on bit information included in a symbol after the RL-SIG of FIG. 18. In other words, the receiving STA may determine the RX PPDU as the EHT PPDU, based on: 1) a first symbol after an L-LTF signal, which is a BPSK symbol; 2) RL-SIG contiguous to the L-SIG field and identical to L-SIG; 3) L-SIG including a length field in which a result of applying “modulo 3” is set to “0”; and 4) a 3-bit PHY version identifier of the aforementioned U-SIG (e.g., a PHY version identifier having a first value).

For example, the receiving STA may determine the type of the RX PPDU as the EHT PPDU, based on the following aspect. For example, the RX PPDU may be determined as the HE PPDU: 1) when a first symbol after an L-LTF signal is a BPSK symbol; 2) when RL-SIG in which the L-SIG is repeated is detected; and 3) when a result of applying “module 3” to a value of a length field of the L-SIG is detected as “1” or “2”.

For example, the receiving STA may determine the type of the RX PPDU as a non-HT, HT, and VHT PPDU, based on the following aspect. For example, the RX PPDU may be determined as the non-HT, HT, and VHT PPDU: 1) when a first symbol after an L-LTF signal is a BPSK symbol; and 2) when RL-SIG in which L-SIG is repeated is not detected. In addition, even if the receiving STA detects that the RL-SIG is repeated, when a result of applying “modulo 3” to the length value of the L-SIG is detected as “0”, the RX PPDU may be determined as the non-HT, HT, and VHT PPDU.

In the following example, a signal represented as a (TX/RX/UL/DL) signal, a (TX/RX/UL/DL) frame, a (TX/RX/UL/DL) packet, a (TX/RX/UL/DL) data unit, (TX/RX/UL/DL) data, or the like may be a signal transmitted/received based on the PPDU of FIG. 18. The PPDU of FIG. 18 may be used to transmit/receive frames of various types. For example, the PPDU of FIG. 18 may be used for a control frame. An example of the control frame may include a request to send (RTS), a clear to send (CTS), a power save-poll (PS-poll), BlockACKReq, BlockAck, a null data packet (NDP) announcement, and a trigger frame. For example, the PPDU of FIG. 18 may be used for a management frame. An example of the management frame may include a beacon frame, a (re-)association request frame, a (re-)association response frame, a probe request frame, and a probe response frame. For example, the PPDU of FIG. 18 may be used for a data frame. For example, the PPDU of FIG. 18 may be used to simultaneously transmit at least two or more of the control frames, the management frame, and the data frame.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of a modified transmitting apparatus and/or receiving apparatus of the present specification.

Each device/STA of the sub-figure (a)/(b) of FIG. 1 may be modified as shown in FIG. 19. A transceiver 630 of FIG. 19 may be identical to the transceivers 113 and 123 of FIG. 1. The transceiver 630 of FIG. 19 may include a receiver and a transmitter.

A processor 610 of FIG. 19 may be identical to the processors 111 and 121 of FIG. 1. Alternatively, the processor 610 of FIG. 19 may be identical to the processing chips 114 and 124 of FIG. 1.

A memory 620 of FIG. 19 may be identical to the memories 112 and 122 of FIG. 1. Alternatively, the memory 620 of FIG. 19 may be a separate external memory different from the memories 112 and 122 of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 19, a power management module 611 manages power for the processor 610 and/or the transceiver 630. A battery 612 supplies power to the power management module 611. A display 613 outputs a result processed by the processor 610. A keypad 614 receives inputs to be used by the processor 610. The keypad 614 may be displayed on the display 613. A SIM card 615 may be an integrated circuit which is used to securely store an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) and its related key, which are used to identify and authenticate subscribers on mobile telephony devices such as mobile phones and computers.

Referring to FIG. 19, a speaker 640 may output a result related to a sound processed by the processor 610. A microphone 641 may receive an input related to a sound to be used by the processor 610.

An STA described below may be the apparatus of FIG. 1 and/or FIG. 19, and a PPDU may be the PPDU of FIG. 18. The STA may be an AP or a non-AP STA. The STA (e.g., AP or non-AP STA) described below may be an STA that supports multi-link (e.g., AP multi-link device (MLD) or non-AP STA MLD).

EHT (IEEE 802.11be) considers multi-link aggregation/operation as one of the principal technologies. Here, multi-link may include a multi-band. That is, the multi-link may mean links of multiple bands. For example, in multi-link, links may be links of different frequency bands or may be different links in the same frequency band.

An STA (i.e., AP or a non-AP STA) described below may be a multi-link device (MLD) supporting a multi-link operation.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of multi-link capabilities of an AP and an STA.

The AP and the STA may support different multi-link (ML) capabilities in FIG. 20. The AP may support one link (Link 1) of 5 GHz and two links (Link 2 and Link 3) of 6 GHz, STA 1 may support one link (Link 1) of 5 GHz and one link (Link 2) of 6 GHz, and STA 2 may support one link (Link 3) of 6 GHz. Hereinafter, negotiating multi-link capabilities between an AP and an STA will be described.

In IEEE 802.11be (EHT), multi-link (ML) capabilities of an AP and an STA may be negotiated (scanned/associated, etc.) in an ML setup stage, and multi-link capability information may be included and transmitted in a beacon, a probe request/response, a (re)association request/response, or the like. Hereinafter, ML capability information and a process for exchanging the same will be described.

ML (multi-link) capability related information can be divided into three cases as follows.

A. AP/STA multi-link capability information

B. Basic service set (BSS) channel information of AP from multi-link

C. Multi-link capability information of STA based on BSS channel information of AP from multi-link

The name of each piece information is the name used in this description, and it is not necessarily used as the corresponding name and may be changed to another name.

1. AP/STA Multi-Link Capability Information

Capability information related to multi-link possessed by the AP/STA may be included in an EHT capability/operation element or a new multi-link related element, and the element may be included in a beacon or probe request/response, (re)association request/response, etc. Alternatively, the multi-link capability information possessed by the AP/STA may be included in a new management/control frame in the form of a field/element.

Basically, whether an STA is multi-link capable (i.e., whether it has a plurality of available/operable links) may be determined according to presence or absence of a multi-link related element (e.g., it is multi-link capable if a multi-link related element is included), and it may be explicitly indicated as follows.

Multi-link capability: Whether the STA has multiple available/operable links

Ex) The STA has multiple links if it is 1 and the STA has a single link if it is 0.

Information for representing multi-link capability is as follows, but is not limited thereto.

Number of Supported Links (NSL): The total number of links that an AP/STA can support for multi-link operation (e.g., the number of RF/antennas)

Ex 1) 1, 2, 3, . . . .

Link identifier: An identifier that can identify each link. The AP/STA may newly define an identifier for each link or may use an existing BSSID, BSS color, or the like as a link identifier.

Ex) New identifier: 0, 1, 2, . . . .

Supported band information (SBI): Information related to frequency bands in which multi-link operation is possible. Specifically, the SBI may mean an ID capable of identifying a band in which the EHT operates. The band ID field of the existing specifications may be used for SBI, but it is not limited thereto.

Ex 1) Band ID: 0-2.4 GHz, 1-5 GHz, 2-6 GHz,

Ex 2) Band ID field: 2-2.4 GHz, 4-5 GHz, 7-6 GHz,

Number of supported links per band (NSLpB): The number of links that can support multi-link per band

Ex 1) 1, 2, 3, . . . .

Supported bandwidth (SB) (per band): Bandwidth that can be supported. Bandwidth may be indicated as a supportable bandwidth for each frequency band.

Ex 1) In case of indication regardless of a frequency band (e.g., a maximum bandwidth that can be supported in all bands): 80/160/320 MHz, etc.

Ex 2) In case of indication for each frequency band: 160 MHz in 5 GHz band, 160 MHz in 6 GHz band, etc.

Supported number of spatial streams (NSS): The number of spatial streams supported by each link

Ex) 1/2/4/8/16

Link status: Information related to whether each link is currently available/operable for data transmission (On/Off). Link status may include not only information related to capability that can be used for data transmission but also information related to whether or not to use the corresponding link for data transmission even if the corresponding link has capability for data transmission. That is, link status may include information related to whether a link supported by an STA can be used for data transmission and information related to whether the STA uses the link for data transmission independently of whether the link can be used for data transmission.

Ex) In the case of indication for each link-specific information, for example, an indication can be performed as follows.

0: STA cannot use the corresponding link for current data transmission.

1: STA can use the corresponding link for current data transmission.

Ex) When information is not indicated for each link, it can be represented in the form of a bitmap. For example, in the case of 011, it represents that the first link has capability for data transmission but is not currently used for data transmission. That is, it can include information representing that the first link can be used for data transmission but the STA does not use the link for data transmission.

Preferred links or bands: This can indicate a frequency band or link preferred by an STA. The preferred link may be determined based on BSS information of an AP or may be determined by the STA itself.

Ex) 1: Corresponding link or band is preferred

In some cases, all of the above contents may be included or only some thereof may be included. For example, if each link is classified only by a band, the link identifier may not be needed. For example, if the order/location indicating band information is determined, the supported band information field may not be included. For example, since a single supported link may support multiple bands instead of one band, the sum of the numbers of supported links per band for all bands may not equal the number of supported links. In this case, both the number of supported links per band and the number of supported links may exist. For example, if one link can support only one band in order to reduce complexity, the number of supported links equals the total number of supported links, and in this case, the number of supported links field may not be included. For example, in the case of link status, if the AP/STA includes only information related to a link capable of data transmission in the capability information, link status information may not be included. For example, preferred links or bands may be included in elements other than capabilities (preferred links or bands may not be included if no preference is required).

Examples of a field that can be composed of the above contents are as follows, but are not limited thereto.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an embodiment of multi-link capability information.

Referring to FIG. 21, the multi-link capability information may include common information and link information.

The common information may be general information covering all links, and the link information may be information for each link.

For example, the common information may include Number of Supported Links (NSL), Number of Supported Links per Band (NSLpB), and the like.

For example, the link information may include a link identifier, Supported Band Information (SBI), Supported Bandwidth (SB) (per band), Supported number of Spatial Streams (NSS), link status, and the like.

2. BSS Channel Information for Each Link of AP

Channel (BSS) information related to ML available/operable in the AP may be included in EHT Operation, Capability Element, or a new multi-link related element. The element may be transmitted through a beacon or a probe/(re)association response. Alternatively, the BSS channel information may be transmitted by being included in a new management/control frame in the form of a field/element. The STA may receive this to ascertain the channel information of the ML BSS. A method of indicating ML channel information can be roughly divided into two types as follows.

1) Method of Using Existing HT/VHT/HE Operation Element

When the existing HT/VHT/HE operation element is used, BSS channel information can be transmitted for each link in 2.4 GHz/5 GHz/6 GHz. However, since multi-link within one band, which is an EHT feature, 320 MHz bandwidth (BW), and 16 spatial streams (SSs) cannot be supported, additional information may be required to support this. That is, in order to include an identifier capable of identifying each link, bits for 320 MHz BW and 16 SSs, and information related to additional support links, a combination of operation elements for each band may be used. For example, the following method may be used.

For 2.4 GHz: HT Operation Element

For 5 GHz: HT Operation Element+VHT Operation Element (+320 MHz/16 SS information)

For 6 GHz: HE Operation Element (+320 MHz/16 SS information)

2) Method of Creating a New Element

The method 1) may increase complexity because it is newly defined through the existing combination while maintaining the existing HT/VHT/HE operation elements for legacy support. Therefore, it is possible to define a new element indicating by using only BSS channel information necessary for each link.

BSS channel information for each link may be configured as follows by adding some fields to fields used in the existing operation element, but is not limited thereto.

The fields used in the existing operation element are primary channel/channel width/channel center frequency segment (CCFS) 0/CCFS 1, and other fields are added.

Link identifier: An identifier that can identify each link. The AP/STA may newly define an identifier for each link or may use an existing BSSID, BSS color, or the like as a link identifier.

Ex) New identifier: 0, 1, 2, . . . .

Band Information: Information related to frequency bands in which multi-link operation is possible. Specifically, the SBI may mean an ID capable of identifying a band in which the EHT operates. Band ID field of the existing specifications may be used, but it is not limited thereto.

Ex 1) Band ID: 0-2.4 GHz, 1-5 GHz, 2-6 GHz,

Ex 2) Band ID field: 2-2.4 GHz, 4-5 GHz, 7-6 GHz,

Primary channel: Primary channel number of corresponding link channel

Channel width: Channel bandwidth of corresponding link channel

CCFS 0: Center frequency of primary 80

CCFS 1: Channel center frequency segment of secondary 80 or primary 160

CCFS 2 may be additionally necessary to support 320 MHz.

CCFS 2: Channel center frequency segment of secondary 160 or primary 320

Link status: Information related to whether each link is currently available/operable for data transmission (On/Off). The link status may include not only information related to capability that can be used for data transmission, but also information related to whether or not to use the link for data transmission even if the link has capability for data transmission. That is, the link status may include information related to whether a link supported by the STA can be used for data transmission and information related to whether the STA uses the link for data transmission independently of whether the link can be used for data transmission.

Ex) In the case of indicating by link-specific information, for example, it can be indicated as follows.

0: STA cannot use the link for current data transmission.

1: STA can use the link for current data transmission.

Ex) When the link status is not indicated by information for each link, it may be represented in the form of a bitmap. For example, in the case of 011, it may include information representing that the first link has capability for data transmission but is not currently used for data transmission. That is, it may include information representing that the first link may be used for data transmission but the STA does not use the link for data transmission.

Supported number of spatial streams (NSS): The number of spatial streams supported by each link

Ex) 1/2/4/8/16

BSS channel information may include all of the above contents or may include only some thereof. For example, if the STA can implicitly know a band through the primary channel, CCFS, and the like, band information may not be included in the BSS channel information.

If a link available for the AP is indicated, the link status field may not be included in the BSS channel information.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an embodiment of multi-link BSS channel information.

Referring to FIG. 22, BSS channel information may include a link identifier, band, primary channel, channel width, CCFSs, and other capabilities fields. The fields may include the contents described above. The other capabilities field may include other capability information.

3. AP BSS Selection Information

The AP may select a link on which the STA can operate based on capability information of the STA and transmit the selected link information to the STA. A method by which the AP notifies the STA of link selection may be classified into three methods as follows.

1) Method of Indicating Using BSS Channel Information of “2. BSS Channel Information for Each Link of AP”

1-1) Method of Transmitting BSS Channel Information Only for a Selected Link (Partial)

When transmitting BSS channel (link) information to the STA, the AP may transmit only BSS channel information for a link on which the STA will operate, instead of all BSS (i.e., link) information. That is, the STA may determine that the link from which the BSS channel information (i.e., link information) has been obtained has been selected. The AP may additionally indicate AID information to the STA as follows.

Association ID (AID) (per link or all links, or a part of links): AID information of each STA. If the AID is different for each link, it can be assigned to each link, and if it is the same for all links, one AID is used. For example, a separate AID may be allocated to each link, or one AID may be allocated to all links. For example, the same AID may be partially assigned to some links.

Ex) AID used in association response

1-2) Method of Transmitting BSS Channel Information for all Links and Indicating a Selected Link (All+Indication)

The AP indicates a BSS (link) in which the STA will operate while providing BSS channel (link) information of all links to the STA. That is, indication information representing link selection may be added to BSS channel information of “2. BSS channel information for each link of AP”. The AP may additionally indicate AID information to the STA as follows.

Ex) Selection=1: Operation on this link. That is, the BSS channel information may be transmitted for each link, and information indicating that a link related to the BSS channel information has been selected based on a bit related to link selection of the channel information may be included therein.

Association ID (AID) (per link or all links, or a part of links): AID information of each STA. If the AID is different for each link, it can be assigned to each link, and if it is the same for all links, one AID is used. For example, a separate AID may be allocated to each link, or one AID may be allocated to all links. For example, the same AID may be partially assigned to some links.

Ex) AID used in association response

2) Method of Separately Indicating Link Selection Information

Link selection information may be transmitted along with the BSS information of “2. BSS channel information for each link of AP”.

The link selection information may be included in EHT operation, capability element, or a new multi-link related element, and this element may be transmitted using a beacon or a probe/(re)association response. Alternatively, the link selection information may be transmitted by being included in a new management/control frame in the form of a field/element. Link selection information that may be included is as follows, but it is not limited thereto.

Selected link identifier: An identifier capable of identifying a link selected such that the STA can operate thereon. The AP may include this link ID in the BSS channel information (i.e., 2. BSS channel information for each link of AP) such that the STA can ascertain specific channel information. The link identifier may be newly defined or may be defined using an existing BS SID, BSS color, or the like.

Ex) New identifier: 0, 1, 2, . . . .

Association ID (AID) (per link or all links, or a part of links): AID information of each STA. If the AID is different for each link, it can be assigned to each link, and if it is the same for all links, one AID is used. For example, a separate AID may be allocated to each link, or one AID may be allocated to all links. For example, the same AID may be partially assigned to some links.

Ex) AID used in association response

Supported bandwidth (SB) (per link): A frequency bandwidth in which the STA can operate. For example, the frequency bandwidth information may include information related to a frequency bandwidth in which the STA can operate for each link.

Ex 1) 160 MHz in Link 1, 80 MHz in Link 2, . . . .

Supported number of spatial streams (NSS): The number of spatial streams supported by the STA on each link

Ex) 1/2/4/8/16

Link selection information may include all of the above information (Contents) or may include only a part thereof. For example, if the STA can determine the supported bandwidth/supported NSS by itself based on the information of the AP, the supported bandwidth/supported NSS information may not be included in the link selection information.

4. Multi-Link Selection Information Based on AP's BSS Channel Information from Multi-Link

When the STA receives channel (BSS) information for possible ML from the AP and knows the channel information of the ML BSS, the STA may select an operable link based on the information related to the channels and transmit capability information related thereto (i.e., link selection information). The link selection information may be included in EHT capability element or a new multi-link related element, and the element may be included in (Re)Association Request. Alternatively, the link selection information may be included in a new management/control frame in the form of a field/element. Link selection information that may be included is as follows, but it is not limited thereto.

Link identifier: An identifier that can identify each link. The AP/STA may newly define an identifier for each link or may use an existing BSSID, BSS color, or the like as a link identifier.

Ex 1) New identifier: 0, 1, 2, . . . .

Availability: Capability for the corresponding link (that is, whether the STA can use the corresponding link)

Ex) In the case of indication by link-specific information, 1-bit information can indicate whether or not to use the link as follows.

0: STA has no capability for the corresponding link

1: No capability for the corresponding link

Ex) If availability is not indicated by information for each link, it is represented in the form of as many bitmaps as the number of links: 0101—second and fourth links are available/operable and first and third links are unavailable/inoperable.

Even if the STA can use the corresponding link, the STA itself may turn on/off for data transmission during the multi-link setup process. For this case, additional information (i.e., link status) as follows may be necessary.

Link status: Information related to whether each link is currently available for data transmission (On/Off). The link status may include not only information related to capability that can be used for data transmission but also information related to whether or not to use the link for data transmission even if the link has capability for data transmission. That is, the link status may include information related to whether a link supported by the STA can be used for data transmission and information related to whether the STA uses the link for data transmission independently of whether the link can be used for data transmission.

Ex) In the case of indicating by link-specific information, for example, it can be indicated as follows.

0: STA cannot currently use the corresponding link for data transmission.

1: STA can use the corresponding link for current data transmission.

Ex) When it is not indicated by information for each link, it can be represented in the form of a bitmap. For example, in the case of 011, it may include information representing that the first link has capability for data transmission but is not currently used for data transmission. That is, it may include information representing that the first link may be used for data transmission but the STA does not use the link for data transmission.

Supported bandwidth (per link): A frequency bandwidth in which the STA can operate. For example, the frequency bandwidth information may include information related to a frequency bandwidth in which the STA can operate for each link.

Ex 1) In case of indication regardless of link (maximum bandwidth supported by all bands): 80/160/320 MHz . . . .

Ex 2) In case of indication by link: 160 MHz in 5 GHz band, 160 MHz in 6 GHz band, . . . .

Link selection information may include all of the above information (contents) or may include only a part thereof.

If only capable links are included, the availability of links may not be included. For example, when only available/operable links are handled, information related to the availability of links may not be included.

Supported number of spatial streams (NSS): The number of spatial streams supported by each link

Ex) 1/2/4/8/16

Preferred links: indicates a link preferred by the STA

Ex 1) 1: Include information representing that the corresponding link or band is preferred.

Ex 2) It can be indicated in the order of link preference: Link 1->Link 2. For example, information related to the most preferred link and information related to the next preferred links may be sorted based on preference and included.

The link selection information may include all of the above information (contents) or may include only a part thereof. For example, if link preference is not required, preferred links may not be included.

5. Negotiation Procedure

Some procedures may exist based on the aforementioned ML capability information. The STA may perform scanning on a predetermined channel (a channel determined for multi-link operation) or may perform scanning on a channel within an available/operable band as in the prior art. In the process below, capability may be exchanged between the AP and the STA all the time although there are parts in which multi-link capability transmission is specified and parts in which it is not specified for description of the processes of the AP and the STA in “1. Multi-link capability information of AP/STA”.

The procedure may be configured specifically as 2-way or 3-way.

1) 2-way

Multi-link setup can be performed with request/response between the AP and the STA. For example, the AP or the STA may select a link and send a request signal and the STA or the AP may send a response signal for the selected link based on the received request signal to perform multi-link setup.

1-1) Case where the AP Determines a Link on which Multi-Link Operation of the STA Will be Performed Based on the Multi-Link Capability of the STA

The STA may transmit multi-link capability (e.g., “1. Multi-link capability information of the AP/STA”) to the AP. The AP may select a link on which the STA will operate by mapping the multi-link capability with BSS channel information thereof (e.g., “2. BSS channel information for each link of AP”) and transmit link selection information (“3. BSS selection information of AP”).

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a multi-link capability negotiation method.

FIG. 23 shows an embodiment of a multi-link capability negotiation method in “1-1) Case where the AP determines a link on which multi-link operation of the STA will be performed based on the multi-link capability of the STA”. Referring to FIG. 23, the STA may transmit the multi-link capability thereof to the AP using EHT element A through a channel (e.g., link 1) through which scanning is performed. The multi-link capability information of the STA may include information representing that the STA may support multi-link with three links, two links supporting a 5 GHz band, and one link supporting a 6 GHz band. Each link can support a maximum bandwidth of 160 MHz and 4 SSs.

Next, the AP may transmit capability information related to the link on which the STA can operate and supportable by the STA to the STA through Element C and transmit channel (BSS) information related to 5 GHz link 1 and 6 GHz link 2 and 3, which are multi-link that can be supported by the AP, through Element B. Here, the channel number and CCFS are indicated for some 5 GHz but they are omitted for 6 GHz because the regulation has not been completely determined yet. Currently, links 1, 2, and 3 are simply assigned as link IDs 0, 1, and 2, respectively, and all are available/operable. In the figure, the AP sends information only on Link 1, but the AP can also transmit information related to links 1, 2, and 3 on link 2 and link 3.

As described in “3. BSS selection information of AP”, Element C may be replaced as follows. For example, the AP may transmit Element B except for link 3 of Element B or indicate selection of links 1 and 2 in Element B. That is, EHT Element B transmitted by the AP may implicitly include information representing that the AP has selected links 1 and 2 by including only information related to links 1 and 2. Alternatively, information indicating that links 1 and 2 have been selected may be additionally included in EHT Element B transmitted by the AP.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a method for replacing Element C of FIG. 23.

Referring to FIG. 24, EHT Element B transmitted by the AP may implicitly include information representing that the AP has selected links 1 and 2 by including only information related to links 1 and 2.

Alternatively, information indicating that links 1 and 2 have been selected may be additionally included in EHT Element B transmitted by the AP.

1-2) Case where the STA Selects and Requests a Link Based on Multi-Link BSS Information of the AP

The AP may transmit BSS channel information (e.g., “2. BSS channel information for each link of AP”). The STA may transmit link selection information (e.g., “4. Multi-link selection information based on BSS channel information of AP from multi-link”) based on the BSS channel information.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a multi-link capability negotiation method.

FIG. 25 shows an embodiment of 1-2) Multi-link capability negotiation method between an AP and an STA. Referring to FIG. 25, the AP may transmit channel (BSS) information related to 5 GHz link 1 and 6 GHz links 2 and 3 through Element A. Here, the channel number and CCFS are indicated for some 5 GHz bands but they are omitted for the 6 GHz band because the regulation has not been completely determined yet. Currently, links 1, 2, and 3 are simply assigned as link IDs 0, 1, and 2, respectively, and all are available/operable. In the figure, the AP sends information only on link 1, but the AP can also transmit information related to links 1, 2, and 3 on link 2 and link 3. Since the STA can support one link in the 5 GHz band and one link in the 6 GHz band, the STA can transmit information representing that channels related to links 1 and 2 can be used based on the channel information of the AP to the AP.

Thereafter, the AP and the STA may perform data transmission/reception through links 1 and 2.

2) 3-way

That is, a multi-link setup may be performed by request/response/confirm between the AP and the STA.

2-1) Case where the AP Determines a Link on which Multi-Link Operation of the STA Will be Performed Based on Multi-Link Capability of the STA

Multi-link capability of the STA (e.g., “1. Multi-link capability information of AP/STA”) may be transmitted to the AP.

The AP may transmit link selection information (e.g., “3. BSS selection information of AP”) regarding a link on which the STA will operate based on BSS channel information thereof (e.g., “2. BSS channel information for each link of AP”). The STA may check whether links included in the link selection information transmitted from the AP are supportable and may perform confirmation. That is, the STA may check whether all links selected by the AP are supportable and may transmit a final confirmation signal.

If the STA receives incorrect information (e.g., different capabilities) from the AP, the STA may reselect a link using “4. Multi-link selection information based on AP's BSS channel information from multi-link” or adjust capability for the corresponding link. For example, the STA may transmit link information newly selected by the STA to the AP instead of the final confirmation signal, or transmit information indicating that the link cannot be used to the AP.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a multi-link capability negotiation method.

FIG. 26 shows an embodiment of 2-1) Multi-link capability negotiation method between an AP and an STA. Referring to FIG. 26, the STA may transmit multi-link capability thereof to the AP using Element A through a channel (e.g., link 1) through which scanning is performed. The multi-link capability information of the STA may include information representing that the STA may support multi-link with three links, two links supporting a 5 GHz band and one link supporting a 6 GHz band. Each link can support a maximum bandwidth of 160 MHz and 4 SSs.

Next, the AP may transmit capability information related to the link on which the STA can operate and supportable by the STA to the STA through Element C and transmit channel (BSS) information related to 5 GHz link 1 and 6 GHz links 2 and 3, which are multi-link that can be supported by the AP, through Element B. Here, the channel number and CCFS are indicated for some 5 GHz but they are omitted for 6 GHz because the regulation has not been completely determined yet. Currently, links 1, 2, and 3 are simply assigned as link IDs 0, 1, and 2, respectively, and all are available/operable. In the figure, the AP sends information only on link 1, but the AP can also transmit information related to links 1, 2, and 3 on link 2 and link 3. Since the STA can currently support only one link for 6 GHz, it can retransmit information indicating that channels related to links 1 and 2 are available/operable based on the channel information of the AP.

The STA may transmit a confirmation message for the links selected by the AP. In FIG. 26, since the links are correctly selected by matching the capabilities between the STA and the AP, a message indicating that a multi-link operation is possible on the two links may be transmitted.

As shown in FIG. 24, Element C may be replaced as follows. For example, the AP may transmit Element B except for link 3 of Element B or indicate that links 1 and 2 have been selected in Element B. That is, the EHT Element B transmitted by the AP may implicitly include information representing that the AP has selected links 1 and 2 by including only information related to links 1 and 2. Alternatively, information indicating that links 1 and 2 have been selected may be additionally included in EHT Element B transmitted by the AP.

2-2) Case where the STA Selects and Requests a Link Based on Multi-Link BSS Information of the AP

The AP may transmit BSS channel information thereof (e.g., “2. BSS channel information for each link of AP”). The STA may transmit link selection information (e.g., “4. Multi-link selection information based on AP's BSS channel information from multi-link”) based on the BSS channel information.

The AP may check whether links included in the link selection information transmitted by the STA are supported and perform confirmation. That is, the STA may check whether all links selected by the AP are supportable and may transmit a final confirmation signal.

If the AP receives incorrect information (e.g., different capabilities) from the STA, the AP may reselect a link using “3. BSS selection information of AP” or adjust the capability for the corresponding link.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a multi-link capability negotiation method.

FIG. 27 shows an embodiment of 2-2) Multi-link capability negotiation method between an AP and an STA. Referring to FIG. 27, the AP may transmit channel (BSS) information related to 5 GHz link 1 and 6 GHz links 2 and 3 through Element A. Here, the channel number and CCFS are indicated for some 5 GHz bands but they are omitted for the 6 GHz band because the regulation has not been completely determined yet. Currently, links 1, 2, and 3 are simply assigned as link IDs 0, 1, and 2, respectively, and all are available/operable. In the figure, the AP sends information only on link 1, but information related to links 1, 2, and 3 can also be transmitted on link 2 and link 3.

Since the STA can support one link in the 5 GHz band and one link in the 6 GHz band, it can retransmit information indicating that channels related to links 1 and 2 are available/operable based on the channel information of the AP (EHT Element B). The AP may transmit a confirmation message for the link selected by the STA. In FIG. 27, since links are correctly selected by matching the capabilities between the STA and the AP, a message indicating that multi-link operation is possible on both links may be transmitted (EHT Element C).

2-3) Case where the STA Provides Link Information Based on Multi-Link BSS Information of the AP and the AP Selects Links

The AP may transmit BSS channel information thereof (e.g., “2. BSS channel information for each link of AP”). The STA may transmit available (or available+preferred) link information (e.g., “1. Multi-link capability information of AP/STA” and/or “4. Multi-link selection information based on AP's BSS channel information from multi-link” based on the BSS channel information.

The AP may transmit link selection information regarding a link on which the STA will operate (e.g., “3. BSS selection information of AP”) based on the information transmitted from the STA.

FIG. 28 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a multi-link capability negotiation method.

FIG. 28 shows an embodiment of 2-3) Multi-link capability negotiation method between an AP and an STA. Referring to FIG. 28, the AP may transmit channel (BSS) information related to 5 GHz link 1 and 6 GHz links 2 and 3 through Element A. Here, the channel number and CCFS are indicated for some 5 GHz bands but they are not omitted for 6 GHz because the regulation has not been completely determined yet. Currently, links 1, 2, and 3 are simply assigned as link IDs 0, 1, and 2, respectively, and all are available/operable. In the figure, the AP sends information only on link 1, but information related to links 1, 2, and 3 can also be transmitted on link 2 and link 3.

Since the STA can support one link in the 5 GHz band and one link in the 6 GHz band, it can transmit information indicating that channels related to links 1 and 2 are available or operable by the STA based on the channel information of the AP. At the same time, the STA may transmit preference information for each link. The AP may finally select link 1 and link 2 based on the link information transmitted from the STA and perform a multi-link operation with the STA. The AP may consider the link preference of the STA when selecting links.

As shown in FIG. 24, Element C may be replaced as follows. For example, the AP may transmit Element A except for link 3 of Element A or may indicate that links 1 and 2 have been selected in Element A. That is, the EHT Element A transmitted by the AP may implicitly include information representing that the AP has selected links 1 and 2 by including only information related to links 1 and 2. Alternatively, information indicating that links 1 and 2 have been selected may be additionally included in EHT Element A transmitted by the AP.

FIG. 29 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an STA operation.

The operation of an STA may be performed based on FIGS. 23 to 28.

Referring to FIG. 29, the STA may receive multi-link channel information from an AP (S2910). For example, the STA may receive multi-link-related channel information from the AP, and the channel information may include link identifier information of a plurality of links included in the multi-link. The multi-link channel information transmitted by the AP may include “2. BSS channel information for each link of AP”.

Channel (BSS) information related to ML available in the AP may be included in EHT operation, capability element, or a new multi-link related element. The element may be transmitted through a beacon or a probe/(re)association response. Alternatively, the BSS channel information may be transmitted by being included in a new management/control frame in the form of a field/element. The STA may receive this and ascertain the channel information of the ML BSS. A method of indicating ML channel information may be roughly divided into two types as follows.

1) Method of Using the Existing HT/VHT/HE Operation Element

If the existing HT/VHT/HE Operation Element is used, BSS channel information may be transmitted for each link in 2.4 GHz/5 GHz/6 GHz. However, since multi-link within one band, which is an EHT feature, 320 MHz bandwidth (BW), and 16 spatial streams (SSs) cannot be supported, additional information may be required to support this. That is, in order to include an identifier capable of identifying each link, bits for 320 MHz BW and 16 SSs, and information related to additional support links, a combination of operation elements for each band may be used. For example, the following method may be used.

For 2.4 GHz: HT Operation Element

For 5 GHz: HT Operation Element+VHT Operation Element (+320 MHz/16 SS information)

For 6 GHz: HE Operation Element (+320 MHz/16 SS information)

2) Method of Creating a New Element

The method 1) may increase complexity because it is newly defined through the existing combination while maintaining the existing HT/VHT/HE operation elements for legacy support. Therefore, it is possible to define a new element indicating by using only BSS channel information necessary for each link.

BSS channel information for each link may be configured as follows by adding some fields to fields used in the existing operation element but is not limited thereto.

The fields used in the existing operation element are primary channel/channel width/channel center frequency segment (CCFS) 0/CCFS 1, and other fields are added.

Link identifier: An identifier that can identify each link. The AP/STA may newly define an identifier for each link or may use an existing BSSID, BSS color, or the like as a link identifier.

Ex) New identifier: 0, 1, 2, . . . .

Band Information: Information related to frequency bands in which multi-link operation is possible. Specifically, the SBI may mean an ID capable of identifying a band in which the EHT operates. Band ID field of the existing specifications may be used, but it is not limited thereto.

Ex 1) Band ID: 0-2.4 GHz, 1-5 GHz, 2-6 GHz,

Ex 2) Band ID field: 2-2.4 GHz, 4-5 GHz, 7-6 GHz,

Primary channel: Primary channel number of corresponding link channel

Channel width: Channel bandwidth of corresponding link channel

CCFS 0: Center frequency of primary 80

CCFS 1: Channel center frequency segment of secondary 80 or primary 160

CCFS 2 may be additionally necessary to support 320 MHz.

CCFS 2: Channel center frequency segment of secondary 160 or primary 320

Link status: Information related to whether each link is currently available for data transmission (On/Off). The link status may include not only information related to capability that can be used for data transmission, but also information related to whether or not to use the link for data transmission even if the link has capability for data transmission. That is, the link status may include information related to whether a link supported by the STA can be used for data transmission and information related to whether the STA uses the link for data transmission independently of whether the link can be used for data transmission.

Ex) In the case of indicating by link-specific information, for example, it can be indicated as follows.

0: STA cannot use the link for current data transmission.

1: STA can use the link for current data transmission.

Ex) When the link status is not indicated by information for each link, it may be represented in the form of a bitmap. For example, in the case of 011, it may include information representing that the first link has capability for data transmission but is not currently used for data transmission. That is, it may include information representing that the first link may be used for data transmission but the STA does not use the link for data transmission.

Supported number of spatial streams (NSS): The number of spatial streams supported by each link

Ex) 1/2/4/8/16

BSS channel information may include all of the above contents or may include only some thereof. For example, if the STA can implicitly know a band through the primary channel, CCFS, and the like, band information may not be included in the BSS channel information.

If a link available for the AP is indicated, the link status field may not be included in the BSS channel information.

The STA may transmit link selection information to the AP (S2920). For example, the STA may transmit the link selection information to the AP based on the channel information, and the link selection information may include information related to whether the STA can use each of the plurality of links and information related to whether the STA can use each of the plurality of links for data transmission. The link selection information transmitted by the STA may include “4. Multi-link selection information based on AP's BSS channel information from multi-link”.

When the STA receives channel (BSS) information related to ML available in the AP and ascertain the channel information of the ML BSS, the STA may select operable links based on information related to the channels and transmit capability information (i.e., link selection information) related thereto. The link selection information may be included in the EHT capability element or a new multi-link related element, and the element may be included in a (re)association request. Alternatively, the link selection information may be included in a new management/control frame in the form of a field/element. Link selection information that may be included is as follows, but is not limited thereto.

Link identifier: An identifier that can identify each link. The AP/STA may newly define an identifier for each link or may use an existing BSSID, BSS color, or the like as a link identifier.

Ex 1) New identifier: 0, 1, 2, . . . .

Availability: Capability for the corresponding link (that is, whether the STA can use the corresponding link)

Ex) In the case of indicating by link-specific information, 1-bit information can indicate whether or not the link is used as follows.

0: STA has no capability for the link

1: No capability for the link

Ex) If availability is not indicated by information for each link, it is represented in the form of as many bitmaps as the number of links: 0101—second and fourth links are available/operable and first and third links are unavailable/inoperable.

Even if the STA can use the corresponding link, the STA itself may turn on/off for data transmission during the multi-link setup process. For this case, additional information (i.e., link status) as follows may be necessary.

Link status: Information related to whether each link is currently available/operable for data transmission (On/Off). The link status may include not only information related to capability that can be used for data transmission but also information related to whether or not to use the link for data transmission even if the link has capability for data transmission. That is, the link status may include information related to whether a link supported by the STA can be used for data transmission and information related to whether the STA uses the link for data transmission independently of whether the link can be used for data transmission.

Ex) In the case of indicating by link-specific information, for example, it can be indicated as follows.

0: STA cannot currently use the corresponding link for data transmission.

1: STA can use the corresponding link for current data transmission.

Ex) When it is not indicated by information for each link, it can be represented in the form of a bitmap. For example, in the case of 011, it may include information representing that the first link has capability for data transmission but is not currently used for data transmission. That is, it may include information representing that the first link may be used for data transmission but the STA does not use the link for data transmission.

Supported bandwidth (per link): A frequency bandwidth in which the STA can operate. For example, the frequency bandwidth information may include information related to a frequency bandwidth in which the STA can operate for each link.

Ex 1) In case of indication regardless of link (maximum bandwidth supported by all bands): 80/160/320 MHz . . . .

Ex 2) In case of indication by link: 160 MHz in 5 GHz band, 160 MHz in 6 GHz band, . . . .

Link selection information may include all of the above information (contents) or may include only a part thereof.

If only capable links are included, the availability of links may not be included. For example, when only available/operable links are handled, information related to the availability of links may not be included.

Supported number of spatial streams (NSS): The number of spatial streams supported by each link

Ex) 1/2/4/8/16

Preferred links: indicates a link preferred by the STA

Ex 1) 1: Include information representing that the corresponding link or band is preferred.

Ex 2) It can be indicated in the order of link preference: Link 1->Link 2. For example, information related to the most preferred link and information related to the next preferred links may be sorted based on preference and included.

The link selection information may include all of the above information (contents) or may include only a part thereof. For example, if link preference is not required, preferred links may not be included.

The link selection information may include information related to frequency bands in which the multi-link operation is possible and information related to whether the AP uses each of the plurality of links for data transmission. The link selection information may include information related to a link preferred by the STA. The information related to the link preferred by the STA may include information related to at least one link in the order of links having high preference of the STA.

The STA may receive link confirmation information from the AP (S2930). The link confirmation information may include information related to at least one link to be used by the STA and the AP for data transmission.

For example, the AP may check whether links included in the link selection information transmitted by the STA are supported and perform confirmation. That is, the STA may check whether all links selected by the AP are supportable and may transmit a final confirmation signal.

If the AP receives incorrect information (e.g., different capabilities) from the STA, the AP may reselect a link using “3. BSS selection information of AP” or adjust the capability for the corresponding link.

FIG. 30 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an AP operation.

The operation of an AP may be performed based on FIGS. 23 to 28.

Referring to FIG. 30, the AP may transmit multi-link channel information to an STA (S3010). For example, the AP may transmit multi-link-related channel information to the STA, and the channel information may include link identifier information of a plurality of links included in the multi-link. The multi-link channel information transmitted by the AP may include “2. BSS channel information for each link of AP”.

Channel (BSS) information related to ML available in the AP may be included in EHT operation, capability element, or a new multi-link related element. The element may be transmitted through a beacon or a probe/(re)association response. Alternatively, the BSS channel information may be transmitted by being included in a new management/control frame in the form of a field/element. The STA may receive this and ascertain the channel information of the ML BSS. A method of indicating ML channel information may be roughly divided into two types as follows.

1) Method of Using the Existing HT/VHT/HE Operation Element

If the existing HT/VHT/HE Operation Element is used, BSS channel information may be transmitted for each link in 2.4 GHz/5 GHz/6 GHz. However, since multi-link within one band, which is an EHT feature, 320 MHz bandwidth (BW), and 16 spatial streams (SSs) cannot be supported, additional information may be required to support this. That is, in order to include an identifier capable of identifying each link, bits for 320 MHz BW and 16 SSs, and information related to additional support links, a combination of operation elements for each band may be used. For example, the following method may be used.

For 2.4 GHz: HT Operation Element

For 5 GHz: HT Operation Element+VHT Operation Element (+320 MHz/16 SS information)

For 6 GHz: HE Operation Element (+320 MHz/16 SS information)

2) Method of creating a new element

The method 1) may increase complexity because it is newly defined through the existing combination while maintaining the existing HT/VHT/HE operation elements for legacy support. Therefore, it is possible to define a new element indicating by using only BSS channel information necessary for each link.

BSS channel information for each link may be configured as follows by adding some fields to fields used in the existing operation element but is not limited thereto.

The fields used in the existing operation element are primary channel/channel width/channel center frequency segment (CCFS) 0/CCFS 1, and other fields are added.

Link identifier: An identifier that can identify each link. The AP/STA may newly define an identifier for each link or may use an existing BSSID, BSS color, or the like as a link identifier.

Ex) New identifier: 0, 1, 2, . . . .

Band Information: Information related to frequency bands in which multi-link operation is possible. Specifically, the SBI may mean an ID capable of identifying a band in which the EHT operates. Band ID field of the existing specifications may be used, but it is not limited thereto.

Ex 1) Band ID: 0-2.4 GHz, 1-5 GHz, 2-6 GHz,

Ex 2) Band ID field: 2-2.4 GHz, 4-5 GHz, 7-6 GHz,

Primary channel: Primary channel number of corresponding link channel

Channel width: Channel bandwidth of corresponding link channel

CCFS 0: Center frequency of primary 80

CCFS 1: Channel center frequency segment of secondary 80 or primary 160

CCFS 2 may be additionally necessary to support 320 MHz.

CCFS 2: Channel center frequency segment of secondary 160 or primary 320

Link status: Information related to whether each link is currently available/operable for data transmission (On/Off). The link status may include not only information related to capability that can be used for data transmission, but also information related to whether or not to use the link for data transmission even if the link has capability for data transmission. That is, the link status may include information related to whether a link supported by the STA can be used for data transmission and information related to whether the STA uses the link for data transmission independently of whether the link can be used for data transmission.

Ex) In the case of indicating by link-specific information, for example, it can be indicated as follows.

0: STA cannot use the link for current data transmission.

1: STA can use the link for current data transmission.

Ex) When it is not indicated by information for each link, it may be represented in the form of a bitmap. For example, in the case of 011, it may include information representing that the first link has capability for data transmission but is not currently used for data transmission. That is, it may include information representing that the first link may be used for data transmission but the STA does not use the link for data transmission.

Supported number of spatial streams (NSS): The number of spatial streams supported by each link

Ex) 1/2/4/8/16

BSS channel information may include all of the above contents or may include only some thereof. For example, if the STA can implicitly know a band through the primary channel, CCFS, and the like, band information may not be included in the BSS channel information.

If a link available for the AP is indicated, the link status field may not be included in the BSS channel information.

The AP may receive link selection information from the STA (S3020). For example, the AP may receive the link selection information from the STA based on the channel information, and the link selection information may include information related to whether the STA can use each of the plurality of links and information related to whether the STA can use each of the plurality of links for data transmission. The link selection information transmitted by the STA may include “4. Multi-link selection information based on AP's BSS channel information from multi-link”.

When the STA receives channel (BSS) information related to ML available in the AP and ascertain the channel information of the ML BSS, the STA may select operable links based on information related to the channels and transmit capability information (i.e., link selection information) related thereto. The link selection information may be included in the EHT capability element or a new multi-link related element, and the element may be included in a (re)association request. Alternatively, the link selection information may be included in a new management/control frame in the form of a field/element. Link selection information that may be included is as follows, but is not limited thereto.

Link identifier: An identifier that can identify each link. The AP/STA may newly define an identifier for each link or may use an existing BSSID, BSS color, or the like as a link identifier.

Ex 1) New identifier: 0, 1, 2, . . . .

Availability: Capability for the corresponding link (that is, whether the STA can use the corresponding link)

Ex) In the case of indicating by link-specific information, 1-bit information can indicate whether or not the link is used as follows.

0: STA has no capability for the link

1: No capability for the link

Ex) If it is not indicated by information for each link, it is represented in the form of as many bitmaps as the number of links: 0101—second and fourth links are available/operable and first and third links are unavailable/inoperable.

Even if the STA can use the corresponding link, the STA itself may turn on/off for data transmission during the multi-link setup process. For this case, additional information (i.e., link status) as follows may be necessary.

Link status: Information related to whether each link is currently available/operable for data transmission (On/Off). The link status may include not only information related to capability that can be used for data transmission but also information related to whether or not to use the link for data transmission even if the link has capability for data transmission. That is, the link status may include information related to whether a link supported by the STA can be used for data transmission and information related to whether the STA uses the link for data transmission independently of whether the link can be used for data transmission.

Ex) In the case of indicating by link-specific information, for example, it can be indicated as follows.

0: STA cannot currently use the corresponding link for data transmission.

1: STA can use the corresponding link for current data transmission.

Ex) When it is not indicated by information for each link, it can be represented in the form of a bitmap. For example, in the case of 011, it may include information representing that the first link has capability for data transmission but is not currently used for data transmission. That is, it may include information representing that the first link may be used for data transmission but the STA does not use the link for data transmission.

Supported bandwidth (per link): A frequency bandwidth in which the STA can operate. For example, the frequency bandwidth information may include information related to a frequency bandwidth in which the STA can operate for each link.

Ex 1) In case of indication regardless of link (maximum bandwidth supported by all bands): 80/160/320 MHz . . . .

Ex 2) In case of indication by link: 160 MHz in 5 GHz band, 160 MHz in 6 GHz band, . . . .

Link selection information may include all of the above information (contents) or may include only a part thereof.

If only capable links are included, the availability of links may not be included. For example, when only available/operable links are handled, information related to the availability of links may not be included.

Supported number of spatial streams (NSS): The number of spatial streams supported by each link

Ex) 1/2/4/8/16

Preferred links: indicates a link preferred by the STA

Ex 1) 1: Include information representing that the corresponding link or band is preferred.

Ex 2) It can be indicated in the order of link preference: Link 1->Link 2. For example, information related to the most preferred link and information related to the next preferred links may be sorted based on preference and included.

The link selection information may include all of the above information (contents) or may include only a part thereof. For example, if link preference is not required, preferred links may not be included.

The link selection information may include information related to frequency bands in which the multi-link operation is possible and information related to whether the AP uses each of the plurality of links for data transmission. The link selection information may include information related to a link preferred by the STA. The information related to the link preferred by the STA may include information related to at least one link in the order of links having high preference of the STA.

The AP may receive link confirmation information from the STA (S3030). The link confirmation information may include information related to at least one link to be used by the STA and the AP for data transmission.

For example, the AP may check whether links included in the link selection information transmitted by the STA are supported and perform confirmation. That is, the STA may check whether all links selected by the AP are supportable and may transmit a final confirmation signal.

If the AP receives incorrect information (e.g., different capabilities) from the STA, the AP may reselect a link using “3. BSS selection information of AP” or adjust the capability for the corresponding link.

Some of the detailed steps shown in the examples of FIGS. 29 and 30 may not be essential steps and may be omitted. The order of the steps may vary. Some of the above steps may have their own technical meaning.

The technical features of the present disclosure described above may be applied to various devices and methods. For example, the technical features of the present disclosure described above may be performed/supported through the apparatus of FIG. 1 and/or FIG. 19. For example, the technical features of the present disclosure described above may be applied only to a part of FIG. 1 and/or FIG. 19. For example, the technical features of the present disclosure described above may be implemented based on the processing chips 114 and 124 of FIG. 1, implemented based on the processors 111 and 121 and the memories 112 and 122 of FIG. 1, or implemented based on the processor 610 and the memory 620 of FIG. 19. For example, the apparatus of the present disclosure may include a memory and a processor operatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processor may be configured to transmit channel information related to multi-link from an access point (AP), the channel information including link identifier information of a plurality of links included in the multi-link, and to transmit link selection information to the AP based on the channel information, the link selection information including information related to whether the STA can use each of the plurality of links and information related to whether the STA uses each of the plurality of links for data transmission.

The technical features of the present disclosure may be implemented based on a computer readable medium (CRM). For example, a CRM proposed by the present disclosure is at least one computer readable medium including instructions executed by at least one processor of a station (STA) supporting multi-link of a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the CRM storing instructions for executing an operation including a step of transmitting channel information related to multi-link from an access point (AP), the channel information including link identifier of a plurality of links included in the multi-link, and a step of transmitting link selection information to the AP based on the channel information, the link selection information including information related to whether the STA can use each of the plurality of links and information related to whether the STA uses each of the plurality of links for data transmission.

The instructions stored in the CRM of the present disclosure may be executed by at least one processor. At least one processor related to the CRM of the present disclosure may be the processors 111 and 121 or the processing chips 114 and 124 of FIG. 1 or the processor 610 of FIG. 19. Meanwhile, the CRM of the present disclosure may be the memories 112 and 122 of FIG. 1, the memory 620 of FIG. 19, or a separate external memory/storage medium/disk.

The foregoing technical features of this specification are applicable to various applications or business models. For example, the foregoing technical features may be applied for wireless communication of a device supporting artificial intelligence (AI).

Artificial intelligence refers to a field of study on artificial intelligence or methodologies for creating artificial intelligence, and machine learning refers to a field of study on methodologies for defining and solving various issues in the area of artificial intelligence. Machine learning is also defined as an algorithm for improving the performance of an operation through steady experiences of the operation.

An artificial neural network (ANN) is a model used in machine learning and may refer to an overall problem-solving model that includes artificial neurons (nodes) forming a network by combining synapses. The artificial neural network may be defined by a pattern of connection between neurons of different layers, a learning process of updating a model parameter, and an activation function generating an output value.

The artificial neural network may include an input layer, an output layer, and optionally one or more hidden layers. Each layer includes one or more neurons, and the artificial neural network may include synapses that connect neurons. In the artificial neural network, each neuron may output a function value of an activation function of input signals input through a synapse, weights, and deviations.

A model parameter refers to a parameter determined through learning and includes a weight of synapse connection and a deviation of a neuron. A hyper-parameter refers to a parameter to be set before learning in a machine learning algorithm and includes a learning rate, the number of iterations, a mini-batch size, and an initialization function.

Learning an artificial neural network may be intended to determine a model parameter for minimizing a loss function. The loss function may be used as an index for determining an optimal model parameter in a process of learning the artificial neural network.

Machine learning may be classified into supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning.

Supervised learning refers to a method of training an artificial neural network with a label given for training data, wherein the label may indicate a correct answer (or result value) that the artificial neural network needs to infer when the training data is input to the artificial neural network. Unsupervised learning may refer to a method of training an artificial neural network without a label given for training data. Reinforcement learning may refer to a training method for training an agent defined in an environment to choose an action or a sequence of actions to maximize a cumulative reward in each state.

Machine learning implemented with a deep neural network (DNN) including a plurality of hidden layers among artificial neural networks is referred to as deep learning, and deep learning is part of machine learning. Hereinafter, machine learning is construed as including deep learning.

The foregoing technical features may be applied to wireless communication of a robot.

Robots may refer to machinery that automatically process or operate a given task with own ability thereof. In particular, a robot having a function of recognizing an environment and autonomously making a judgment to perform an operation may be referred to as an intelligent robot.

Robots may be classified into industrial, medical, household, military robots and the like according uses or fields. A robot may include an actuator or a driver including a motor to perform various physical operations, such as moving a robot joint. In addition, a movable robot may include a wheel, a brake, a propeller, and the like in a driver to run on the ground or fly in the air through the driver.

The foregoing technical features may be applied to a device supporting extended reality.

Extended reality collectively refers to virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). VR technology is a computer graphic technology of providing a real-world object and background only in a CG image, AR technology is a computer graphic technology of providing a virtual CG image on a real object image, and MR technology is a computer graphic technology of providing virtual objects mixed and combined with the real world.

MR technology is similar to AR technology in that a real object and a virtual object are displayed together. However, a virtual object is used as a supplement to a real object in AR technology, whereas a virtual object and a real object are used as equal statuses in MR technology.

XR technology may be applied to a head-mount display (HMD), a head-up display (HUD), a mobile phone, a tablet PC, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a TV, digital signage, and the like. A device to which XR technology is applied may be referred to as an XR device.

The claims recited in the present specification may be combined in a variety of ways. For example, the technical features of the method claims of the present specification may be combined to be implemented as a device, and the technical features of the device claims of the present specification may be combined to be implemented by a method. In addition, the technical characteristics of the method claim of the present specification and the technical characteristics of the device claim may be combined to be implemented as a device, and the technical characteristics of the method claim of the present specification and the technical characteristics of the device claim may be combined to be implemented by a method. 

1. A method performed in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the method comprising: receiving, by a station (STA), channel information related to a multi-link from an access point (AP), the channel information including link identifier information of a plurality of links included in the multi-link; and transmitting, by the STA, link selection information to the AP based on the channel information, the link selection information including an identifier of a link operable by the STA.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the channel information includes information related to frequency bands in which a multi-link operation is possible, and information related to whether the AP uses each of the plurality of links for data transmission.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the link selection information includes information related to at least one link preferred by the STA.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the information related to at least one link preferred by the STA includes information related to at least one link of highest preference of the STA.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the STA, link confirmation information from the AP, wherein the link confirmation information includes information related to at least one link to be used by the STA and the AP for data transmission.
 6. A station (STA) used in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the STA comprising: a transceiver configured to transmit/receive radio signals; and a processor connected to the transceiver, wherein the processor is configured: to receive channel information related to a multi-link from an access point (AP), the channel information including link identifier information of a plurality of links included in the multi-link; and to transmit link selection information to the AP based on the channel information, the link selection information including an identifier of a link operable by the STA.
 7. The STA of claim 6, wherein the channel information includes information related to frequency bands in which a multi-link operation is possible, and information related to whether the AP uses each of the plurality of links for data transmission.
 8. The STA of claim 6, wherein the link selection information includes information related to at least one link preferred by the STA.
 9. The STA of claim 8, wherein the information related to at least one link preferred by the STA includes information related to at least one link of highest preference of the STA.
 10. The STA of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to receive link confirmation information from the AP, wherein the link confirmation information includes information related to at least one link to be used by the STA and the AP for data transmission.
 11. (canceled)
 12. An access point (AP) used in a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, the AP comprising: a transceiver configured to transmit/receive radio signals; and a processor connected to the transceiver, wherein the processor is configured: to transmit channel information related to a multi-link to a station (STA), the channel information including link identifier information of a plurality of links included in the multi-link; and to receive link selection information from the STA based on the channel information, the link selection information including an identifier of a link operable by the STA. 13-14. (canceled)
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the channel information is received through a first management frame, wherein the first management frame is a Beacon frame or a Probe Response frame, wherein the link selection information is transmitted through a second management frame, wherein the second management frame is an Association Request frame or a Re-Association Request frame.
 16. The STA of claim 6, wherein the channel information is received through a first management frame, wherein the first management frame is a Beacon frame or a Probe Response frame, wherein the link selection information is transmitted through a second management frame, wherein the second management frame is an Association Request frame or a Re-Association Request frame.
 17. The AP of claim 12, wherein the channel information is transmitted through a first management frame, wherein the first management frame is a Beacon frame or a Probe Response frame, wherein the link selection information is received through a second management frame, wherein the second management frame is an Association Request frame or a Re-Association Request frame. 